MRK vs. LLY, JNJ, ABBV, PFE, BMY, ZTS, RPRX, JAZZ, PRGO, and CORT
Should you be buying Merck & Co., Inc. stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Merck & Co., Inc. include Eli Lilly and Company (LLY), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), AbbVie (ABBV), Pfizer (PFE), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Zoetis (ZTS), Royalty Pharma (RPRX), Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ), Perrigo (PRGO), and Corcept Therapeutics (CORT). These companies are all part of the "pharmaceuticals" industry.
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) and Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, valuation and community ranking.
Eli Lilly and Company received 206 more outperform votes than Merck & Co., Inc. when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.07% of users gave Eli Lilly and Company an outperform vote while only 66.97% of users gave Merck & Co., Inc. an outperform vote.
Eli Lilly and Company has a beta of 0.37, suggesting that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Merck & Co., Inc. has a beta of 0.39, suggesting that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, Eli Lilly and Company had 8 more articles in the media than Merck & Co., Inc.. MarketBeat recorded 43 mentions for Eli Lilly and Company and 35 mentions for Merck & Co., Inc.. Eli Lilly and Company's average media sentiment score of 0.52 beat Merck & Co., Inc.'s score of 0.46 indicating that Merck & Co., Inc. is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
82.5% of Eli Lilly and Company shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Eli Lilly and Company shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Eli Lilly and Company has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Merck & Co., Inc.. Eli Lilly and Company is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Merck & Co., Inc., indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Eli Lilly and Company pays an annual dividend of $5.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Merck & Co., Inc. pays an annual dividend of $3.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Eli Lilly and Company pays out 76.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Merck & Co., Inc. pays out 342.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Eli Lilly and Company has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Merck & Co., Inc. has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Merck & Co., Inc. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Eli Lilly and Company has a net margin of 17.08% compared to Eli Lilly and Company's net margin of 3.76%. Merck & Co., Inc.'s return on equity of 56.98% beat Eli Lilly and Company's return on equity.
Eli Lilly and Company presently has a consensus target price of $769.53, indicating a potential downside of 6.19%. Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus target price of $131.33, indicating a potential upside of 4.61%. Given Eli Lilly and Company's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Merck & Co., Inc. is more favorable than Eli Lilly and Company.
Summary
Eli Lilly and Company beats Merck & Co., Inc. on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding MRK and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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