MRK has a lot of headline potential from hereHeadline Potential
Merck has three drugs currently under priority FDA review, one of them a Covid-19 drug:
Molnupiravir, an antiviral for Covid-19 which has received a positive opinion from the advisory board and which Merck's CEO says should work against any variant
Vaxneuvance, a pneumococcal vaccine
Lynparza, a breast cancer drug
Merck also continues to make strong headway with Keytruda, an immunotherapy, which recently picked up another approval in Japan.
All of this means that Merck has a lot of headline potential in coming weeks, especially at a time when a new Covid-19 variant is spreading across the world. There's quite a bit of options activity in Merck today as traders place bets ahead of the news.
Technicals and Sentiment
Merck is currently near support from a long-term trend line and from the 200-day EMA. It has 26% upside to the average analyst price target and a bullish put/call ratio of .43. It has an average analyst rating of 9.3/10, which is very high. It gets an above average ESG score of 2.25/3.
Value
S&P Global gives Merck's fundamentals an average score of 90/100. IIt's currently trading -1.4 standard deviations below where it usually trades in relation to its major moving averages. Forward dividend yield is about 3.7%, forward P/E just over 11, forward P/S about 3.4. The price to free cash flow ratio is fairly high, at over 20, but that has to be interpreted in light of the other multiples. estimate that Merck has about 18% upside to its average price multiple of the last 3 years. Its earnings outlook is highly positive; I score its growth forecast a 5/6.
