PREVIEW: Merck seen reporting Q4 loss
01/02/2024 10:00
(Repeats BUZZ published on Wednesday with no changes)
** Shares in Merck & Co MRK.N down fractionally on Wednesday
ahead of quarterly report due before market open on Thursday
** Wall Street expects MRK to post Q4 adj loss per share of
$0.11 vs profit of $1.62 in year-ago qtr on rev of $14.50 bln,
up about 5% yr/yr, according to latest LSEG data
** In the last 8 quarters, MRK's rev and EPS beat consensus
** In Oct., MRK agreed to pay Daiichi Sankyo 4568.T $5.5
bln to jointly develop three of its candidate cancer drugs,
resulting in pretax charge of $5.5 bln, or ~$1.70 per share
against MRK's Q4 and full-year 2023 profit
** Also in Q4, MRK announced purchase of Caraway
Therapeutics for up to $610 mln, to build pipeline for treatment
of nervous system-related diseases
** For Q3 MRK's sales and profit topped expectations on
strong demand for its COVID-19 treatment, primarily in Japan
** MRK's shares last traded at $121.45 vs Wall Street median
PT of $129.50, which is up from $125 a month ago, per LSEG
** Of 29 analyst recommendations, 8 rate stock "strong buy",
16 rate "buy" and rest have "hold"
** YTD, shares up 11.4% after falling 1.7% in 2023 vs Dow
Industrials .DJI increase of ~2% after a 13.7% advance in
2023. In comparison, S&P 500 healthcare index .SPXHC up 3.5%
YTD after edging up 0.3% in 2023
(Reporting By Sinéad Carew)
((sinead.carew@thomsonreuters.com; +13322191897;))