Merck Q2 revenue seen rising, deal to weigh on bottom line
MRK•Quarterly preview and expectations
Shares in pharma co Merck & Co. MRK.N were down 1.9% in the last session ahead of the quarterly report due out before market open on Tuesday.
Wall Street expects MRK, provider of blockbuster immunotherapy cancer treatment Keytruda, to report Q2 adjusted loss/shr of $0.27 vs profit/shr of $2.19 in the year-ago quarter on revenue of $16.36 billion, which would be up about 3.5% from $15.81 billion a year ago - LSEG data.
Recent performance and analyst view
In the last eight quarters, MRK's revenue beat the Street seven times, while EPS beat every time.
Stock last traded at $127.76 vs median PT of $137, according to data compiled by LSEG, which shows 32 analyst ratings: eight 'strong buy,' 14 'buy,' 10 'hold'.
Deal-related charge and pipeline focus
Results are expected to include a charge of about $2.35/shr from MRK's completion of its purchase of biotech firm Terns Pharma, announced in March as a $6.7 billion deal, as the company looks to bolster its cancer pipeline ahead of patent loss for Keytruda later this decade.
