New Jersey-based Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is a global research-driven pharmaceutical products company. Well known products in Merck’s portfolio include Remicade, Nasonex, Simponi, Vytorin and Zetia, Januvia and Janumet, Isentress, Emend, Keytruda, Cozaar/Hyzaar, Zocor, ProQuad, Gardasil, Zostavax and others.
However, like many of its peers, Merck is facing headwinds in the form of generic competition for several key products. The company sold off its Consumer Care business to Bayer (DE:BAYGN) for $14.2 billion in Oct 2014. Meanwhile, Merck acquired hepatitis C virus focused company Idenix Pharmaceuticals in Aug 2014 and Cubist Pharmaceuticals in 2015. Merck is also focusing on immuno-oncology.
Merck’s performance has been pretty impressive, with the company exceeding earnings expectations in all the trailing four quarters. The average positive earnings surprise over the last four quarters is 8.11%. Estimate movement has been mostly static over the past 60 days.
Currently, Merck has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), but that could definitely change following the company’s earnings report which was just released. We have highlighted some of the key stats from this just-revealed announcement below:
Earnings Beat: Merck surpassed earnings expectations. The company reported EPS of $1.11 while our consensus called for EPS of $1.03.
Revenues Miss: Revenues in the reported quarter came below expectations. Merck posted revenues of $10.33 billion below our consensus estimate of $10.50 billion. Lost sales of some products and in some markets due to a network cyber-attack in June hurt the top-line in the quarter
2017 Outlook: Merck raised its previously issued adjusted earnings guidance while raising its sales guidance marginally – for the second time this year.
Adjusted earnings are expected in the range of $3.91–$3.97 versus $3.76–$3.88 previously.
Revenues are expected in the range of $40.0 billion – $40.5 billion compared with the earlier forecast of $39.4 billion – $40.4 billion.
Stock Price Impact: Shares were up around 1% in pre-market trading.
Check back later for our full write up on this MRK earnings report!
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Merck & Company, Inc. (MRK): Free Stock Analysis Report
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