Merck & Co. (MRK)
Forward P/E is 17.09x against a peer median of 19.15x, a ratio of 0.89x — just below the fair range — with trailing P/E 111.67x and PEG 3.13. Latest-quarter revenue grew 5.1% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR); revenue is growing, not shrinking, and the cluster median is positive, so the value-trap check does not block the cheaper label, although the discount is thin and the trailing multiple and PEG warn that past earnings were weak. Delivered demand check: the Biotechnology & pharmaceuticals group's median growth was 9.5% year over year — demand rising, and Merck grew slower than that median.
What would change this label: Move to FAIRLY PRICED if the forward P/E rises to about 17.24x or above (0.90x the peer median) at unchanged estimates, or if revenue growth falls below 0% year over year for two quarters. Move to OVERVALUED if the forward P/E rises above about 22.02x (1.15x the peer median) without a matching rise in growth.
Merck makes medicines and vaccines, including a leading cancer treatment. Its shares cost about 17 times next year's expected earnings, just below similar companies at about 19 times, while its sales grew about 5%. On forward earnings the shares look slightly undervalued, though past earnings make the picture less clean.
Both lines start at 100 on 2020-09-01. Over the full window Merck & Co. returned +74.05% and the S&P 500 +118.28% (price returns; dividends not reinvested). Worst peak-to-trough fall for Merck & Co.: -44.7% (2024-06-24 to 2025-05-14). Source: Nasdaq official daily history.
What the label rests on
Forward P/E is 17.09x against a peer median of 19.15x, a ratio of 0.89x — just below the fair range — with trailing P/E 111.67x and PEG 3.13. Latest-quarter revenue grew 5.1% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR); revenue is growing, not shrinking, and the cluster median is positive, so the value-trap check does not block the cheaper label, although the discount is thin and the trailing multiple and PEG warn that past earnings were weak. Delivered demand check: the Biotechnology & pharmaceuticals group's median growth was 9.5% year over year — demand rising, and Merck grew slower than that median. The company’s forward P/E is 17.1× against a peer median of 19.1×. Its own history: UNVERIFIED — no sourced range available. Sector demand read: Delivered demand check: the Biotechnology & pharmaceuticals group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 9.5% year over year (SEC filings) — demand rising. Merck grew slower than that median, at 5.1%. Latest-quarter sales growth was +5.1% versus a year earlier (SEC filings).
| Company | Price (Oct 28, 2026) | Forward P/E | Trailing P/E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merck & Co. (MRK) | $142.14 | 17.1× | 111.7× |
| AMGN | — | 19.2× | 28.2× |
| GILD | — | 18.2× | — |
| ABBV | — | 19.1× | 81.5× |
| PFE | — | 10.8× | 39.0× |
| VRTX | — | 35.8× | 31.0× |
| Peer median | 19.1× |
Multiples: stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026. Peer set chosen by sector; the median is the middle value of the set. The label and its numbers were recorded in the programme’s label registry on Oct 28, 2026 and will be scored at 6 and 12 months.
Sales, profit and cash
This company does not report a gross-profit line in its SEC facts (normal for banks, payment networks and some health insurers), so profit is shown as net income instead — gross margin is marked UNVERIFIED-absent rather than estimated.
Free cash flow = cash from operations minus spending on plant and equipment, both from the company’s SEC cash-flow statement. Gaps are quarters where that spending line is not separately tagged in the filings — shown as gaps, never estimated.
| Quarter | Sales | Gross margin | Net income | EPS (GAAP, diluted) | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q/E Jun 2026 2026-06-30 | $16.6B | — | $-1.3B | -0.54 | $4.5B |
| Q/E Mar 2026 2026-03-31 | $16.3B | — | $-4.2B | -1.72 | $2.9B |
| Q/E Dec 2025 2025-12-31 | $16.4B | — | $3.0B | — | $1.8B |
| Q/E Sep 2025 2025-09-30 | $17.3B | — | $5.8B | 2.32 | $6.8B |
| Q/E Jun 2025 2025-06-30 | $15.8B | — | $4.4B | 1.76 | $2.5B |
| Q/E Mar 2025 2025-03-31 | $15.5B | — | $5.1B | 2.01 | $1.2B |
| Q/E Dec 2024 2024-12-31 | $15.6B | — | $3.7B | — | $2.5B |
| Q/E Sep 2024 2024-09-30 | $16.7B | — | $3.2B | 1.24 | $8.5B |
| Q/E Jun 2024 2024-06-30 | $16.1B | — | $5.5B | 2.14 | $4.8B |
| Q/E Mar 2024 2024-03-31 | $15.8B | — | $4.8B | 1.87 | $2.2B |
| Q/E Dec 2023 2023-12-31 | $14.6B | — | $-1.2B | — | $-743M |
| Q/E Sep 2023 2023-09-30 | $16.0B | — | $4.7B | 1.86 | $6.8B |
The last twelve reported quarters. Full 24-quarter history sits in the data pack behind this page. A dash means the figure is not tagged as a standalone quarter in the company’s SEC facts (the usual case is the fourth quarter, which many companies only report inside the full-year filing) — it is missing, not zero.
Earnings: getting better or worse?
Each box is one quarter’s earnings per share (EPS). Green means EPS was higher than the same quarter a year earlier; red means lower; a dash means the figure is not tagged in the filings.
Basis: GAAP diluted EPS from SEC company facts, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Key facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Company (legal name in filings) | Merck & Co., Inc. |
| Chief executive | Robert M. Davis (source: https://everything-pr.com/merck-pharmaceutical-company-profile) |
| Sector | Health Care — Pharmaceuticals — makes medicines and vaccines for cancer, infectious disease and other conditions |
| Share price (Oct 28, 2026) | $142.14 |
| Market value (market cap) | $349.9B — share price times shares outstanding of 2,467,171,638 (SEC filings; SEC EDGAR dei EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding (latest)) |
| Sales, last twelve months | $66.6B |
| Net income, last twelve months | $3.2B |
| Free cash flow, last twelve months | $16.1B |
| Latest reported quarter | Q/E Jun 2026 (of 24 quarters in the data pack) |
| Six-year price return vs S&P 500 | +74.05% vs +118.28% |
| Worst peak-to-trough fall | -44.7% (2024-06-24 to 2025-05-14) |
What we could not verify
- Gross profit / gross margin: not tagged as a standalone line in this company's EDGAR company facts (common for banks, payment networks and some healthcare payers) — shown as UNVERIFIED-absent; the page charts revenue and net income instead.
- TTM GAAP diluted EPS could not be summed from company facts because at least one of the last four quarters (typically Q4) has no standalone tagged EPS; trailing P/E is therefore taken from the labelled secondary source in valuation_label.md.
- Own-history P/E range not yet compiled for this company in the Phase 1 batch run; the label rests on peer-median, growth and PEG evidence.
- Guidance record (each quarter scored against the guidance the company gave the quarter before) is not yet compiled for this company — it is a Phase 2 layer. The earnings strip below therefore uses reported EPS versus a year earlier, which is fully sourced from filings.
The IT factor — the most exciting thing the market is overlooking — is not assessed on an X-Ray page. It belongs to the Deep Dive (Phase 2), where it gets the evidence standard it needs. Leadership-era scoring (the six years split by chief executive) is likewise a Phase 2 layer; this page names the current chief executive only, from a sourced profile.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR submissions — Filing index; company legal name.
https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0000310158.json - SEC EDGAR company facts — Quarterly financial spine: revenue, gross profit, net income, GAAP diluted EPS, operating cash flow, PP&E capex, buybacks, dividends, diluted shares.
https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000310158.json - Nasdaq official daily history — Daily closes for the company; SPY (assetclass=etf) saved as raw/nasdaq_spy_raw.json over identical dates.
https://api.nasdaq.com/api/quote/MRK/historical?assetclass=stocks - Valuation multiples and peer figures — stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026; see valuation_label.md in the data pack.
Conventions: earliest-filed value per period, as first reported; cash-flow years-to-date differenced quarter by quarter; EPS never differenced; free cash flow = operating cash flow minus plant-and-equipment spending. This page is a dated snapshot — updates are new versions, never silent edits.