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Merck (MRK) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
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Merck (MRK - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $81.59, moving +0.78% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.34%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.09%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.43%.
Heading into today, shares of the pharmaceutical company had lost 2.81% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's gain of 0.2% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.46% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from MRK as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 30, 2019. On that day, MRK is projected to report earnings of $1.16 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 9.43%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $10.91 billion, up 4.21% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.74 per share and revenue of $44.56 billion, which would represent changes of +9.22% and +5.36%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for MRK. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.21% higher. MRK is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that MRK has a Forward P/E ratio of 17.1 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.45, which means MRK is trading at a premium to the group.
Investors should also note that MRK has a PEG ratio of 1.72 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Large Cap Pharmaceuticals stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.09 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 28, which puts it in the top 11% of all 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 follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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Merck (MRK) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know
Merck (MRK - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $81.59, moving +0.78% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.34%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.09%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.43%.
Heading into today, shares of the pharmaceutical company had lost 2.81% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's gain of 0.2% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.46% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from MRK as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 30, 2019. On that day, MRK is projected to report earnings of $1.16 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 9.43%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $10.91 billion, up 4.21% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $4.74 per share and revenue of $44.56 billion, which would represent changes of +9.22% and +5.36%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for MRK. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.21% higher. MRK is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that MRK has a Forward P/E ratio of 17.1 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.45, which means MRK is trading at a premium to the group.
Investors should also note that MRK has a PEG ratio of 1.72 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Large Cap Pharmaceuticals stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.09 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 28, which puts it in the top 11% of all 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 follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.