Merck (MRK) Rises Yet Lags Behind Market: Some Facts Worth Knowing

Merck (MRK) closed the most recent trading day at $99.45, moving +0.08% from the previous trading session. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 1.1% for the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.91%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 1.35%.Shares of the pharmaceutical company have depreciated by 1.77% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Medical sector's loss of 3.78% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 0.22%.Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Merck in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to go public on February 4, 2025. On that day, Merck is projected to report earnings of $1.80 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 5900%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $15.52 billion, indicating a 6.05% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $7.72 per share and revenue of $64.06 billion. These totals would mark changes of +411.26% and +6.56%, respectively, from last year.Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Merck. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the company's business and profitability.Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.04% lower within the past month. Merck is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).Digging into valuation, Merck currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.87. This denotes a discount relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 13.85.We can additionally observe that MRK currently boasts a PEG ratio of 1.43. 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. The average PEG ratio for the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry stood at 1.46 at the close of the market yesterday.The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 140, which puts it in the bottom 45% of all 250+ industries.The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.5 Stocks Set to DoubleEach was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2024. While not all picks can be winners, previous recommendations have soared +143.0%, +175.9%, +498.3% and +673.0%.Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK): Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks