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 compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, community ranking, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.
Eli Lilly and Company presently has a consensus target price of $1,009.72, indicating a potential upside of 18.39%. Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus target price of $117.12, indicating a potential upside of 33.01%. Given Merck & Co., Inc.'s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Merck & Co., Inc. is more favorable than Eli Lilly and Company.
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 85.24% beat Merck & Co., Inc.'s return on equity.
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.
Eli Lilly and Company has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Merck & Co., Inc. has a beta of 0.35, indicating that its stock price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Eli Lilly and Company received 224 more outperform votes than Merck & Co., Inc. when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 70.57% of users gave Eli Lilly and Company an outperform vote while only 66.80% of users gave Merck & Co., Inc. an outperform vote.
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 3.7%. 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 increased its dividend for 11 consecutive years and Merck & Co., Inc. has increased 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 owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Eli Lilly and Company shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
In the previous week, Eli Lilly and Company had 33 more articles in the media than Merck & Co., Inc.. MarketBeat recorded 135 mentions for Eli Lilly and Company and 102 mentions for Merck & Co., Inc.. Eli Lilly and Company's average media sentiment score of 1.21 beat Merck & Co., Inc.'s score of 0.87 indicating that Eli Lilly and Company is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Summary
Eli Lilly and Company beats Merck & Co., Inc. on 12 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 3/25/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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