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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 $73.18 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.37% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.23%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the pharmaceutical company had lost 4.26% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 0.02% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.65% in that time.

MRK will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be October 28, 2021. In that report, analysts expect MRK to post earnings of $1.52 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 12.64%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $12.43 billion, down 0.94% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $5.51 per share and revenue of $47.03 billion. These totals would mark changes of -7.24% and -2.02%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for MRK. 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. 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.

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 has moved 0.13% lower within the past month. MRK currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note MRK's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 13.32. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 13.49.

Meanwhile, MRK's PEG ratio is currently 2.16. 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. The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.09 as of yesterday's close.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 121, which puts it in the top 48% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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