Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) Stock Forecast Nov. 6, 2026
Analysis updated on Nov. 6, 2026 (UTC) · Alpha · vs marketSwitch to Total · NYSE
Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) stock forecast summary
Our AI scores Merck & Co., Inc. every trading day against every stock it covers. Create a free account and follow it to see its rating and price target.
Merck & Co., Inc. is a mega-cap company with a market capitalization of $362.01B. It ranks number 4 by market capitalization among the 60 Pharmaceutical Preparations issuers in our coverage with a current forecast.
For MRK, the Spearman rank correlation between our 90-day forecasts and the returns that followed is 31.0%, measured on 357 forecast dates between 2022-08-19 and 2026-08-07 on this stock's own recent history. A rank correlation runs from -100% to +100%: it measures whether higher forecasts were followed by higher returns, and a value near zero or below means the model has shown little skill on this stock. On the 30-day forecasts the same correlation is 14.0%, measured on 400 forecast dates between 2022-08-19 and 2026-10-07. Across our coverage, the out-of-sample test on 4629 stocks from 2025-01-06 to 2026-08-04 produced a positive net return in 92.9% of rebalance periods (factor-neutral book, net of estimated costs). Full backtest report
Expected return relative to the market over the horizon: a positive alpha means the model expects the stock to beat the market, whatever the market does. Ratings: strong buy ≥ +3.1%, buy ≥ +1.5%, sell < -0.5%, strong sell < -1.8% (top 15%, next 20%, middle 30%, next 20%, bottom 15% of the 2026-11-06 signals)
A free account shows the exact forecast, rating and rank of 3 tickers you follow, MRK included.
MRK price chart and AI forecast
How MRK ranks among 5150 stocks
90D Alpha forecasts of every company scored, cut into five relative ratings at the 15th, 35th, 65th and 85th percentiles (dashed lines).
Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) fundamentals
Trailing twelve months. The industry median and the rank (1 = highest) are taken over the Pharmaceutical Preparations peers listed below that report each metric.
Valuation & Market
| Metric | MRK | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Market Cap | $362.01B | 4/60 |
| P/E Ratio | 151.27x | 3/32 |
| P/B Ratio | 8.06x | 18/42 |
| Dividend Yield | 2.31% | 5/10 |
| EPS | $0.97 | – |
| Book Value/Share | $18.20 | – |
| Revenue/Share | $27.31 | – |
| FCF/Share | $5.98 | – |
Profitability & Margins
| Metric | MRK | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| ROE | 5.5% | 19/38 |
| ROA | 1.9% | 22/42 |
| Gross Margin | 71.8% | 24/36 |
| Net Margin | 3.6% | 21/35 |
| EBT Margin | 7.1% | 24/46 |
| Tax Rate | 48.5% | – |
Financial Health
| Metric | MRK | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Current Ratio | 1.35x | 47/58 |
| Quick Ratio | 1.14x | 29/43 |
| D/E Ratio | 1.96x | 12/47 |
| Financial Leverage | 2.96x | 10/47 |
| Working Capital | $10.14B | 5/58 |
Cash Flow
| Metric | MRK | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Operating Cash Flow | $18.70B | 10/59 |
| Free Cash Flow | $14.75B | 8/50 |
| Capital Spending | -$3.96B | 45/50 |
| OCF Growth YoY | 9.6% | 15/34 |
| FCF Growth YoY | 13.0% | 11/32 |
| FCF/Sales | 21.9% | 14/42 |
| CapEx/Sales | 5.9% | 9/42 |
Operational Efficiency
| Metric | MRK | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Asset Turnover | 0.51x | 18/39 |
| Receivables Turnover | 5.3x | 18/36 |
| Inventory Turnover | 3.1x | 11/35 |
| Fixed Assets Turnover | 2.6x | 34/41 |
| Days Sales Outstanding | 69 days | 19/36 |
| Days Inventory | 118 days | 25/35 |
| Payables Period | 96 days | 16/24 |
| Cash Conversion Cycle | 91 days | 14/22 |
Income Statement
| Metric | MRK | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Total Revenue | $67.38B | 7/46 |
| Net Income | $2.45B | 15/46 |
| R&D Expense | $30.76B | 3/58 |
| SG&A Expense | $11.39B | 10/40 |
| Cost of Goods Sold | $19.03B | 9/37 |
Dividend & Shareholder Information
| Metric | MRK | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Dividends Per Share | $3.39 | – |
| Payout Ratio | 349.5% | 1/10 |
| Shares Outstanding | 2467M | – |
| Net Income Growth | -87.1% | 20/23 |
| EPS Growth | -87.2% | 22/24 |
Balance Sheet Highlights (USD millions)
| Total Current Assets | $38.94B | 29.3% of assets |
| Cash & Short-term Investments | $9.55B | 7.2% of assets |
| Accounts Receivable | $12.74B | 9.6% of assets |
| Inventory | $6.16B | 4.6% of assets |
| Total Liabilities | $87.83B | 66.1% of assets |
| Short-term Debt | $23.77B | 17.9% of assets |
MRK quarterly financials and insider trading
Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) industry peers
Companies classified under the same SEC industry code as Merck & Co., Inc. (Pharmaceutical Preparations): 60 common-stock issuers with a forecast this week, one row per issuer, largest first. This is a classification match, not a curated list of competitors.
Reveal all forecasts · See exact % predictions for all competitors
Sign up free| Company | 90-Day AI Forecast (Alpha) | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|
| MRK Merck & Co., Inc. | $362.01B | |
| LLY Eli Lilly & Co | $1.28T | |
| JNJ Johnson & Johnson | $664.95B | |
| ABBV Abbvie Inc. | $514.78B | |
| NVS Novartis Ag | $310.17B | |
| AZN Astrazeneca Plc | $288.97B | |
| ABT Abbott Laboratories | $191.15B | |
| NVO Novo Nordisk A S | $179.14B | |
| PFE Pfizer Inc | $167.51B | |
| VRTX Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc / Ma | $137.50B | |
| BMY Bristol Myers Squibb Co | $127.02B | |
| SNY Sanofi | $115.97B | |
| GSK Gsk Plc | $101.54B | |
| REGN Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | $93.11B | |
| TAK Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd | $66.19B | |
| TEVA Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd | $49.65B | |
| ONC Beone Medicines Ltd. | $46.26B | |
| GMAB Genmab A/S | $34.50B | |
| ZTS Zoetis Inc. | $33.93B | |
| RPRX Royalty Pharma Plc | $28.82B | |
| ROIV Roivant Sciences Ltd. | $26.45B | |
| INSM Insmed Inc | $25.10B | |
| UTHR United Therapeutics Corp | $24.11B | |
| VTRS Viatris Inc | $22.87B | |
| ALNY Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | $20.89B | |
| ASND Ascendis Pharma A/S | $16.86B | |
| JAZZ Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc | $15.24B | |
| BBIO Bridgebio Pharma, Inc. | $14.47B | |
| SMMT Summit Therapeutics Inc. | $13.03B | |
| ELAN Elanco Animal Health Inc | $12.86B | |
| RDY Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd | $12.44B | |
| BMRN Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc | $10.85B | |
| MDGL Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | $9.24B | |
| TGTX Tg Therapeutics, Inc. | $9.20B | |
| SYRE Spyre Therapeutics, Inc. | $9.16B | |
| PTGX Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc | $8.54B | |
| ARWR Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | $8.22B | |
| CORT Corcept Therapeutics Inc | $7.87B | |
| PRAX Praxis Precision Medicines, Inc. | $7.75B | |
| RYTM Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | $7.73B | |
| ALKS Alkermes Plc. | $7.70B | |
| ABVX Abivax S.A. | $7.50B | |
| CYTK Cytokinetics Inc | $7.46B | |
| KNSA Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, Plc | $7.37B | |
| AXSM Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. | $6.93B | |
| ORKA Oruka Therapeutics, Inc. | $6.81B | |
| IONS Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc | $6.55B | |
| AMRX Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | $6.43B | |
| LGND Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc | $6.12B | |
| MIRM Mirum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | $6.07B | |
| BLTE Belite Bio, Inc | $6.07B | |
| MANE Veradermics, Inc | $5.80B | |
| SUPN Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | $5.56B | |
| COGT Cogent Biosciences, Inc. | $5.49B | |
| PTCT Ptc Therapeutics, Inc. | $5.47B | |
| ERAS Erasca, Inc. | $5.04B | |
| EWTX Edgewise Therapeutics, Inc. | $4.89B | |
| DNTH Dianthus Therapeutics, Inc. /De/ | $4.81B | |
| TVTX Travere Therapeutics, Inc. | $4.44B | |
| LEGN Legend Biotech Corp | $4.33B |
Where MRK sits on the market map
Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) stock news
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Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) stock forecast FAQ
What is the Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) stock forecast?
Our AI scores Merck & Co., Inc. every trading day against every stock it covers. Create a free account and follow it to see its rating and price target.
How accurate are Merck & Co., Inc. stock predictions?
For MRK, the Spearman rank correlation between our 90-day forecasts and the returns that followed is 31.0%, measured on 357 forecast dates between 2022-08-19 and 2026-08-07 on this stock's own recent history. A rank correlation runs from -100% to +100%: it measures whether higher forecasts were followed by higher returns, and a value near zero or below means the model has shown little skill on this stock. On the 30-day forecasts the same correlation is 14.0%, measured on 400 forecast dates between 2022-08-19 and 2026-10-07. Across our coverage, the out-of-sample test on 4629 stocks from 2025-01-06 to 2026-08-04 produced a positive net return in 92.9% of rebalance periods (factor-neutral book, net of estimated costs). Full backtest report
How often are Merck & Co., Inc. forecasts updated?
Merck & Co., Inc. forecasts are refreshed on trading days as the daily model run completes. The forecast on this page was produced on Nov. 6, 2026.
Which companies are Merck & Co., Inc.'s industry peers?
60 issuers in our coverage, MRK included, share the SEC industry code Pharmaceutical Preparations. The largest are: Eli Lilly & Co (LLY), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Abbvie Inc. (ABBV), Novartis Ag (NVS), Astrazeneca Plc (AZN), Abbott Laboratories (ABT).
This analysis is generated automatically using our proprietary AI systems and should not be considered personalized investment advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Always conduct your own research and consider consulting a financial advisor before making investment decisions.