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Merck (MRK) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
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Merck (MRK - Free Report) closed at $105.57 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.65% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.39%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the pharmaceutical company had lost 1.81% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 0.04% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.16% in that time.
Merck will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be August 1, 2023. In that report, analysts expect Merck to post earnings of $1.85 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 1.07%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $14.43 billion, down 1.1% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $6.35 per share and revenue of $58.82 billion, which would represent changes of -15.11% and -0.78%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Merck. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 8.59% lower. Merck is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
In terms of valuation, Merck is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.89. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.72, which means Merck is trading at a premium to the group.
Also, we should mention that MRK has a PEG ratio of 2.05. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Large Cap Pharmaceuticals stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.64 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 167, which puts it in the bottom 34% 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.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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Merck (MRK) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
Merck (MRK - Free Report) closed at $105.57 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.65% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.39%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the pharmaceutical company had lost 1.81% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 0.04% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.16% in that time.
Merck will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be August 1, 2023. In that report, analysts expect Merck to post earnings of $1.85 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 1.07%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $14.43 billion, down 1.1% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $6.35 per share and revenue of $58.82 billion, which would represent changes of -15.11% and -0.78%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Merck. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 8.59% lower. Merck is currently a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
In terms of valuation, Merck is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.89. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.72, which means Merck is trading at a premium to the group.
Also, we should mention that MRK has a PEG ratio of 2.05. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Large Cap Pharmaceuticals stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.64 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 167, which puts it in the bottom 34% 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.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.