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Merck (MRK) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
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Merck (MRK - Free Report) closed at $108.24 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.4% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.84%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.96%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.81%.
Heading into today, shares of the pharmaceutical company had lost 0.85% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's loss of 1.32% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 0.19% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Merck as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be October 26, 2023. In that report, analysts expect Merck to post earnings of $1.95 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 5.41%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $15.31 billion, up 2.37% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.01 per share and revenue of $59.57 billion, which would represent changes of -59.76% and +0.48%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Merck. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about 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.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Merck is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Looking at its valuation, Merck is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 35.84. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.57, which means Merck is trading at a premium to the group.
Investors should also note that MRK has a PEG ratio of 4.29 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. MRK's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.74 as of yesterday's close.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 166, putting it in the bottom 35% 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) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
Merck (MRK - Free Report) closed at $108.24 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.4% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.84%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.96%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.81%.
Heading into today, shares of the pharmaceutical company had lost 0.85% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's loss of 1.32% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 0.19% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Merck as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be October 26, 2023. In that report, analysts expect Merck to post earnings of $1.95 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 5.41%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $15.31 billion, up 2.37% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.01 per share and revenue of $59.57 billion, which would represent changes of -59.76% and +0.48%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Merck. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about 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.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Merck is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Looking at its valuation, Merck is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 35.84. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.57, which means Merck is trading at a premium to the group.
Investors should also note that MRK has a PEG ratio of 4.29 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. MRK's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.74 as of yesterday's close.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 166, putting it in the bottom 35% 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.