Merck & Co., Inc.

MRK · NYSE · Healthcare · Drug Manufacturers General

Next earnings: October 29, 2026

$148.78+0.5%Sep 25 close

1M: +0.9%
6M: +26.0%
1Y: +94.9%
5Y: +137.3%

Merck makes prescription medicines and vaccines for people, and medicines, vaccines and monitoring products for animals.

Built from Merck & Co., Inc.’s own filings with the SEC. Figures are as reported, with per-share history restated onto today’s share basis. This describes a business — it is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell anything.

Full financial statements →

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck discovers, develops, manufactures and sells prescription medicines and vaccines for people, including cancer treatments such as Keytruda and vaccines such as Gardasil. Its Animal Health business sells medicines, vaccines and animal identification and monitoring products to veterinarians, farmers and other animal-care businesses.

Head office: Rahway, New Jersey, United States
Founded: 1891
Listed on: NYSE
Financial year ends: December 31

How it makes money

Human medicines and vaccines (Pharmaceutical segment)90%
Animal medicines, vaccines and related products (Animal Health segment)10%

Shares of revenue are estimates for FY2025, not figures from a filing.

Competes with

What it sells6

Keytruda and Keytruda Qlex
Cancer medicines. Keytruda is given into a vein; Keytruda Qlex is a form given as an injection under the skin.
Gardasil and Gardasil 9
Vaccines that help prevent certain cancers and other diseases caused by some types of human papillomavirus.
Januvia and Janumet
Prescription medicines used to help lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes.

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Winrevair
A medicine for adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a disease that raises blood pressure in the arteries from the heart to the lungs.
Lipfendra
An oral medicine used with diet and exercise to lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in adults with high cholesterol.
Bravecto
A range of medicines that protect dogs and cats against fleas and ticks, including oral, topical and injectable forms.

Who buys it5

Drug wholesalers and retailers buy Merck's human prescription medicines for distribution to pharmacies and other care providers.
Hospitals, government agencies and managed health-care organizations buy or arrange access to prescription medicines.
Physicians, wholesalers, distributors and government entities buy or distribute Merck's human vaccines.

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Veterinarians, animal-health distributors, animal producers and farmers buy veterinary medicines, vaccines and animal monitoring products.

What it stands on, and what could break it

What the business leans on

1Sales depend heavily on a small number of major medicines. Keytruda was Merck's biggest-selling product in 2025, and sales depend on continued demand, market access and patent protection.
2Merck depends on patents and other legal protections for medicines. When products lose market exclusivity, generic or biosimilar versions can take sales; the 2026 quarterly report describes this pressure on Januvia, Janumet and Bridion.

How it compares with its industry

Three ratings, each a percentile against the 21 companies we cover in Drug Manufacturers General. Deliberately kept apart rather than blended into one score — cheap, rising and well-run are three different facts, and a single number would hide which one is which.

Momentum

100of 100 in its industry

Near the top of its industry

12 months to a month ago89.5%

6 months to a month ago29.6%

The most recent month is left out on purpose: returns tend to persist over 7–12 months and the newest one tends to reverse. This describes what the price has done, and says nothing about what it will do.

Value

30of 100 in its industry

Below most of its industry

Profit for the price0.86%

Cash for the price4.38%

Sales for the price18.14%

Assets for the price14.33%

Operating profit for the whole business—

Yields, so higher means cheaper — a loss-making company ranks last instead of dropping out. Cheap is not the same as good: a high yield is often a price that fell for a reason. Blended from 4 of 5 measures.

Capital allocation

3/3Disciplined

3 checks not reported

Return on capital—

Shareholder yield3.61%

Share count, 3 years-2.9%

Net debt / EBITDA—

Insiders, 12 months-$42M

What management does with the money — scored on whatever the filings answer, never as a share of the total.

The six capital-allocation checks

Return on the money investedNot enough reported to work it out
Debt against earningsNo comparable earnings to measure debt against
Cash returned to shareholders3.6% a year in buybacks and dividends
Share count over three yearsShare count 2.9% lower over three years
Payouts covered by cash flowFree cash flow covers what it pays out
Open-market insider buyingNet selling of $42M — not counted against the score

A description of where this company sits among its competitors, not a recommendation. Ratings updated Sep 26, 2026.

Pet owners buy Merck's companion-animal products, sometimes through veterinary practices or distributors.

3

Sales depend on regulatory approval, health-care coverage and government and insurer purchasing decisions. The company also reports that certain raw or intermediate materials come primarily from a single supplier.

4Gardasil sales in China depend on demand and the relationship with its Chinese distributor and commercialization partner; Merck suspended shipments in 2025 and resumed limited shipments in 2026.

What could go wrong

1Merck identifies its dependence on patent rights as a risk: if patents are invalidated or products lose market exclusivity, generic or biosimilar competition can rapidly reduce sales. Keytruda is its biggest-selling product, and the company reports that U.S. government price-setting for certain medicines is also affecting its business.
2Government and private health-care cost controls can lower prices or restrict access. The latest quarterly report describes price-setting, Medicaid discounts and other cost-reduction measures, including a German health-care reform law expected to put downward pressure on sales there.
3Vaccine sales can be affected by changes in vaccination recommendations, government purchasing and demand. Gardasil sales fell in China, where Merck suspended shipments before agreeing to limited shipments under a revised distributor contract; U.S. childhood immunization schedule changes were also subject to a court injunction and government appeal.

A

Is the business getting bigger, and does it generate real cash?

Grade in force:

ABCDF

Showing 2 of 41 quarters of Merck & Co., Inc.’s grade history. The other 39 go back to September 2016.

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