Investing.com – Shares in Merck edged lower in premarket trade on Friday despite reporting fourth-quarter revenue and profit that came in slightly above analysts' expectations.
The company reported earnings per share of $1.04, above the consensus estimate of $1.03, while revenue came in at $11.0 billion, just topping estimates for $10.94 billion.
After recording revenue of $42.3 billion in 2018, Merck forecast that full-year sales for 2019 would be between $43.2 and $44.7 billion. The midpoint of that range suggests a modest slowdown in growth to just under 4% this year from 5.4% in 2018.
The Dow component expects earnings to grow slightly faster this year, at a clip of around 7%. It predicted full-year adjusted earnings per share of $4.57 to $4.72, compared to $4.34 in 2018.
“We enter 2019 with good momentum, anticipating the many opportunities afforded by our broad and differentiated portfolio and pipeline,” Kenneth C. Frazier, Merck’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in the press release.
At 7:04 AM ET (12:04 GMT), shares in Merck (NYSE:MRK) lost 0.35% to $74.17 in premarket trade.
Merck&Co follows other major Healthcare sector earnings this month
On January 22, J&J reported fourth quarter EPS of $1.97 on revenue of $20.39B, compared to forecasts of EPS of $1.95 on revenue of $20.2B.
Pfizer earnings matched analyst's expectations on Tuesday, with fourth quarter EPS of $0.64 on revenue of $13.98B. Investing.com analysts expected EPS of $0.64 on revenue of $13.96B
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