Stock on Focus: Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK)

Company Profile:

Merck & Co., Inc. provides healthcare solutions worldwide. The company offers therapeutic and preventive agents to treat cardiovascular, type 2 diabetes, asthma, nasal allergy symptoms, allergic rhinitis, chronic hepatitis C virus, HIV-1 infection, fungal infections, intra-abdominal infections, hypertension, arthritis and pain, inflammatory, osteoporosis, male pattern hair loss, and fertility diseases. The company has a collaboration agreement with Adaptimmune Therapeutics plc; and a research agreement with Proteros Biostructures to develop small molecule compounds for the treatment of various cancers. The company was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Kenilworth, New Jersey.

Recent News:

On Dec.7, 2016, Merck (MRK) announced new data from an ongoing observational effectiveness study of single dose ZOSTAVAX® II being conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Vaccine Study Center (KPVSC) and sponsored by Merck.

On Nov.22, 2016, Merck (MRK) announced that the Board of Directors has increased the company’s quarterly dividend to $0.47 per outstanding share of the company’s common stock, up $0.01 from $0.46 per outstanding share paid last quarter.

The company reported that worldwide sales were $10.5 billion for the third quarter of 2016, an increase of 5 percent compared with the third quarter of 2015, including a 1 percent negative impact from foreign exchange. GAAP earnings per share (EPS) assuming dilution were $0.78 for the third quarter.

Fundamental Analysis:

Ninestocks analyzes several different financial aspects: Growth, Profitability, solvency and efficiency.

Growth – Measures the growth of both the company’s income statement and cash flow.

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Profitability – Measures the historical price movement of the stock.

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Solvency – Measures the solvency of the company based on several ratios.

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Efficiency – Measures the strength and historic growth of a company’s return on invested capital.

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Conclusion:

MRK’s strengths can be seen in its better growth, better profitability and better solvency compared with its peers. Technical indicators signal the bullish signs, as there is a bullish cross in Stochastic Oscillator and RSI stands at 49.36 with positive bias. We rate Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) a STRONG BUY.