MRK vs. LLY, JNJ, ABBV, PFE, BMY, ZTS, RPRX, JAZZ, CORT, and PRGO
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), Corcept Therapeutics (CORT), and Perrigo (PRGO). These companies are all part of the "pharmaceuticals" industry.
Merck & Co., Inc. vs.
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) and Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, media sentiment, community ranking, risk, institutional ownership and earnings.
Merck & Co., Inc. has a net margin of 26.67% compared to Eli Lilly and Company's net margin of 23.51%. Eli Lilly and Company's return on equity of 86.26% beat Merck & Co., Inc.'s return on equity.
Eli Lilly and Company currently has a consensus target price of $1,007.94, indicating a potential upside of 15.31%. Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus target price of $116.39, indicating a potential upside of 30.20%. Given Merck & Co., Inc.'s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Merck & Co., Inc. is more favorable than Eli Lilly and Company.
Eli Lilly and Company has a beta of 0.42, indicating that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Merck & Co., Inc. has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, Eli Lilly and Company had 39 more articles in the media than Merck & Co., Inc.. MarketBeat recorded 157 mentions for Eli Lilly and Company and 118 mentions for Merck & Co., Inc.. Eli Lilly and Company's average media sentiment score of 1.33 beat Merck & Co., Inc.'s score of 0.74 indicating that Eli Lilly and Company is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Eli Lilly and Company pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Merck & Co., Inc. pays an annual dividend of $3.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Eli Lilly and Company pays out 51.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Merck & Co., Inc. pays out 48.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Eli Lilly and Company has raised its dividend for 11 consecutive years and Merck & Co., Inc. has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Merck & Co., Inc. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
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 insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Eli Lilly and Company received 223 more outperform votes than Merck & Co., Inc. when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.67% of users gave Eli Lilly and Company an outperform vote while only 66.80% of users gave Merck & Co., Inc. an outperform vote.
Merck & Co., Inc. has higher revenue and earnings than Eli Lilly and Company. Merck & Co., Inc. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Eli Lilly and Company, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Eli Lilly and Company beats Merck & Co., Inc. on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
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Media Sentiment Over Time
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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This page (NYSE:MRK) was last updated on 2/21/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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