Merck (MRK) Beats Stock Market Upswing: What Investors Need to Know
In the latest trading session, Merck (MRK) closed at $127.99, marking a +0.38% move from the previous day. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily gain of 0.25%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.15%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.03%.
Coming into today, shares of the pharmaceutical company had lost 2.66% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 0.11%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.34%.
The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Merck in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is scheduled to release its earnings on July 30, 2024. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.14, up 203.88% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $15.88 billion, up 5.65% from the prior-year quarter.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $8.62 per share and a revenue of $64.4 billion, demonstrating changes of +470.86% and +7.13%, respectively, from the preceding year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Merck should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.59% lower. Merck is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
In terms of valuation, Merck is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 14.79. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.43.
It is also worth noting that MRK currently has a PEG ratio of 2.46. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. As the market closed yesterday, the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry was having an average PEG ratio of 1.78.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 156, placing it within the bottom 39% of over 250 industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.
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Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) : Free Stock Analysis Report
