Merck & Company Inc MRK

What the company does

Merck & Company Inc is a mega-cap company in the Healthcare sector (Drug Manufacturers - General), with a market value of $358.4B, based in the USA.

It employs about 73,000 people and has been listed since Jan 13, 1978.

Merck & Co., Inc. operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It offers human health pharmaceutical for various areas under the Keytruda, Keytruda Qlex, Welireg, Gardasil, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, Vaxneuvance, Capvaxive, RotaTeq, Pneumovax 23, Bridion, Prevymis, Dificid, Zerbaxa, Winrevair, Adempas/ Verquvo, Ohtuvayre, Lagevrio, Isentress/Isentress HD, Delstrigo, Pifeltro, Belsomra, Januvia, and Janumet brands.

Cheap or expensive? priced in line with its group

The company is loss-making, so it has no P/E — we compare on price-to-sales instead.

Its price-to-sales (P/S) is 5.4 versus 4.5 for 4 direct peers — priced in line with its group.

Revenue is growing 5% versus the same quarter last year.

The average analyst price target is 159.76, 10% above the current price (their view, not ours).

The stock sits at 86% of its one-year range (0% = the low, 100% = the high).

The risks

• • The company is loss-making.
• • Net debt is 1.1× shareholders' equity — high leverage.
• • Quarterly report in 4 days (2026-10-29) — a day the stock can move a lot.

Strengths

• ✅ Generates free cash flow — profit becomes cash in the bank.
• ✅ Buys back its shares (2% fewer shares in a year).
• ✅ Most analysts rate it buy (19 vs 0).
• ✅ Pays a dividend (2.2% a year).

What changed this week

Over the past week the stock fell 0.5% (for comparison: S&P 500 -0.4%, sector ETF XLV +1.4%).

This week's news

• Can Merck (MRK) Stay Undervalued If Cash Flow Keeps Growing? finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-24
  What the article says

  Merck has had a strong multi year run and is now back in the spotlight after fresh oncology headlines. This raises an important question for investors who focus on cash flows: Is the current share price mainly a reaction to recent news flow, or a reflection of what the company's future cash generation can reasonably… source ↗

• Oncologists Cheer Melanoma Data finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-23
  What the article says

  Leaked data from Moderna and Merck's highly anticipated melanoma vaccine trial has led to a rare disconnect between doctors, who celebrated the result, and Wall Street, which sold off the stocks.Normally results of such pivotal drug studies are binary, with doctors, patients and investors all learning whether a novel… source ↗

• Top Stock Reports for Apple, Berkshire Hathaway & Goldman Sachs finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-23
  What the article says

  Friday, October 23, 2026 The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including Apple Inc. (AAPL), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS), as well a micro-cap stock SIFCO… source ↗

• Merck And Moderna Diverge On Cancer Vaccine Results. Do They Still Have A Viable Drug? finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-23
  What the article says

  Moderna and Merck stock diverged Friday as investors digested the early release of their cancer vaccine data. Continue Reading source ↗

• MRNA Tanks as Positive Phase III Cancer Therapy Data Fails to Impress finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-23
  What the article says

  Moderna MRNA, along with partner Merck MRK, reported detailed positive results from the phase III INTerpath-001 study evaluating their investigational personalized cancer therapy in certain patients with high-risk melanoma, a serious form of skin cancer. The study evaluated Moderna's investigational mRNA-based… source ↗

• Stock Market Today: Dow Slumps 600 Points On Rising Oil Prices; SpaceX Rebounds On This News (Live Coverage) finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-23
  What the article says

  The Dow Jones index drops 500 points Friday as oil prices rally. Bloom, MaxLinear and WDC are big earnings movers. Continue Reading source ↗

What changed since last week

No material change: same valuation verdict, same risk flags, price moved less than 3%.