Stocks · Healthcare · Drug Manufacturers - General
Merck & Co., Inc. MRK
$144.30 +0.34% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $356.40B
High qualityStrong trendLow risk
Next earnings report: Oct 29, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $1.25, down 80.7% year over year.
- Operating margin narrowed to 16.7% from 33.6% a year earlier.
- The shares trade at 115.4× trailing earnings, higher than 90% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Healthcare sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
Growth35Weak
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 38%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 21%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 50%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 32%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 30%
Quality94Exceptional
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 23%
- Gross marginTop 37%
- Operating marginTop 16%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 10%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 26%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 26%
- Interest coverTop 17%
Value59Neutral
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 28%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 20%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 29%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 43%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 11%
Momentum83Strong
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 27%
- 6-month returnTop 39%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 24%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 12%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 20%
Revisions64Neutral
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 24%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 12%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 37%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 19%
Stability83Strong
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 13%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 18%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 8%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 26%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 2.5% | 4.2% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -48.3% | -80.7% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 75.4% | 75.4% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 33.6% | 16.7% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 23.1% | 24.2% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 4.2% | 2.5% | ↑ | Bottom 38% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -80.7% | -48.3% | ↓ | Bottom 21% |
| Gross margin | 75.4% | 75.4% | ↓ | Top 37% |
| Operating margin | 16.7% | 33.6% | ↓ | Top 16% |
| Net margin | 4.8% | 25.8% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 24.2% | 23.1% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 5.6% | — | Top 23% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 3.1% | — | Bottom 32% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 3.00×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -12.9%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 1.3%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +1.8 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 3.40×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 8.8×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 2.33%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.04%
- Shareholder yield
- 2.37%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -1.6%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -0.9%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 7, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 6
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 7 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +18.9%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -1.4%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $159.59
- Target vs current price
- +10.6%
- Analysts with a rating
- 38
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 68%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | +51.9% | +0.2% | +2.5% | +15.6% | — |
| Apr 30, 2026 | +12.9% | -1.6% | +2.4% | +8.1% | +17.9% |
| Feb 3, 2026 | +1.5% | +2.2% | +3.8% | +5.7% | -2.1% |
| Oct 30, 2025 | +9.3% | -0.3% | -2.5% | +20.8% | +24.6% |
| Jul 29, 2025 | +4.9% | -1.7% | -5.0% | +1.5% | +4.2% |
| Apr 24, 2025 | +4.2% | +1.5% | +8.3% | -2.2% | +0.8% |
| Feb 4, 2025 | -7.0% | -9.1% | -13.4% | -7.2% | -14.6% |
| Oct 31, 2024 | +4.7% | -2.4% | -3.9% | -1.6% | -6.2% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | -$0.13 | -$0.27 | +51.9% | $16.61B |
| Apr 30, 2026 | -$1.28 | -$1.47 | +12.9% | $16.29B |
| Feb 3, 2026 | $2.04 | $2.01 | +1.5% | $16.40B |
| Oct 30, 2025 | $2.58 | $2.36 | +9.3% | $17.28B |
| Jul 29, 2025 | $2.13 | $2.03 | +4.9% | $15.81B |
| Apr 24, 2025 | $2.22 | $2.13 | +4.2% | $15.53B |
| Feb 4, 2025 | $1.72 | $1.85 | -7.0% | $15.62B |
| Oct 31, 2024 | $1.57 | $1.50 | +4.7% | $16.66B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 115.4× | 20.8× | 90th | Top 28% |
| P/E (forward) | 52.8× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 29.1× | — | — | Top 29% |
| EV / Sales | 6.08× | — | — | Bottom 43% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 4.51% | — | — | Top 20% |
| Earnings yield | 0.87% | — | — | Top 28% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 11.2× – 141.7× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +60.1%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -80.7%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +726.2%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✓ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 72
- Days above the 200-day average
- 228
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +6.1%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +4.0%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +1.4%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +17.5%
- RSI (14)
- 46.3
- Relative volume
- 1.00×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 33.5%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 90th percentile · High for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.27
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.13
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -7.8%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -44.7%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 24, 2024 | May 14, 2025 | -44.7% | 223 days | 313 days (Aug 13, 2026) |
| Nov 4, 2021 | Dec 7, 2021 | -20.2% | 22 days | 108 days (May 12, 2022) |
| May 8, 2023 | Nov 28, 2023 | -15.4% | 141 days | 28 days (Jan 9, 2024) |
| Jan 11, 2021 | Mar 4, 2021 | -15.1% | 36 days | 147 days (Oct 1, 2021) |
| Jul 15, 2022 | Sep 21, 2022 | -11.0% | 47 days | 22 days (Oct 21, 2022) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $356.40B
- P/E (TTM)
- 115.4
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.25
- Revenue (TTM)
- $66.40B
- Dividend yield
- 2.36%
- 52-week range
- $82.01 – $156.92
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $48.70B | $59.28B | $60.12B | $64.17B | $64.93B |
| Gross profit | $35.08B | $41.87B | $43.99B | $48.98B | $46.73B |
| Operating income | $13.20B | $18.28B | $2.95B | $20.22B | $23.49B |
| Net income | $13.05B | $14.52B | $365.0M | $17.12B | $18.25B |
| EPS (diluted) | $5.14 | $5.71 | $0.14 | $6.74 | $7.28 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $16.66B | $15.62B | $15.62B | $15.80B | $17.18B | $16.32B | $16.29B | $16.61B |
| Net income | $3.16B | $3.74B | $5.08B | $4.43B | $5.79B | $2.96B | -$4.24B | -$1.33B |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.24 | $1.48 | $2.01 | $1.76 | $2.32 | $1.19 | -$1.72 | -$0.54 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $14.11B | $19.09B | $13.01B | $21.47B | $16.47B |
| Capital expenditure | -$4.45B | -$4.39B | -$3.86B | -$3.37B | -$4.11B |
| Free cash flow | $9.66B | $14.71B | $9.14B | $18.10B | $12.36B |
| Dividends paid | -$6.61B | -$7.01B | -$7.45B | -$7.84B | -$8.18B |
| Net share buybacks | -$840.0M | $384.0M | -$1.35B | -$1.31B | -$4.99B |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $7.14B
- Total assets
- $129.80B
- Total liabilities
- $87.82B
- Total debt
- $53.91B
- Net debt
- $47.06B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $41.93B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 7, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 15, 2026 | $0.85 | Oct 7, 2026 |
| Jun 15, 2026 | $0.85 | Jul 8, 2026 |
| Mar 16, 2026 | $0.85 | Apr 7, 2026 |
| Dec 15, 2025 | $0.85 | Jan 8, 2026 |
| Sep 15, 2025 | $0.81 | Oct 7, 2025 |
| Jun 16, 2025 | $0.81 | Jul 8, 2025 |
| Mar 17, 2025 | $0.81 | Apr 7, 2025 |
| Dec 16, 2024 | $0.81 | Jan 8, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 34,430,712
- Days to cover
- 4.23
- Change vs previous report
- +13.7%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jun 3, 2021
- 131-for-125
- Feb 17, 1999
- 2-for-1
- May 26, 1992
- 3-for-1
- May 26, 1988
- 3-for-1
- May 27, 1986
- 2-for-1