Zoetis (ZTS) Competitors

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) and Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, risk, community ranking, media sentiment and valuation.

Do analysts rate MRK or ZTS?

Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus target price of $117.12, indicating a potential upside of 43.73%. Zoetis has a consensus target price of $215.90, indicating a potential upside of 42.26%. Given Merck & Co., Inc.'s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Merck & Co., Inc. is more favorable than Zoetis.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Merck & Co., Inc.	0 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.65
Zoetis	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.08

Is MRK or ZTS a better dividend stock?

Merck & Co., Inc. pays an annual dividend of $3.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Zoetis pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Merck & Co., Inc. pays out 48.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Zoetis pays out 36.6% 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. Merck & Co., Inc. has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years and Zoetis has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Which has more risk and volatility, MRK or ZTS?

Merck & Co., Inc. has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zoetis has a beta of 0.92, meaning that its share price is 8% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, MRK or ZTS?

Merck & Co., Inc. has higher revenue and earnings than Zoetis. Merck & Co., Inc. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Zoetis, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Merck & Co., Inc.	$64.17B	3.21	$17.12B	$6.73	12.11
Zoetis	$9.26B	7.34	$2.49B	$5.47	27.74

Does the media favor MRK or ZTS?

In the previous week, Merck & Co., Inc. had 52 more articles in the media than Zoetis. MarketBeat recorded 92 mentions for Merck & Co., Inc. and 40 mentions for Zoetis. Zoetis' average media sentiment score of 1.57 beat Merck & Co., Inc.'s score of 0.69 indicating that Zoetis is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Merck & Co., Inc.	55 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	22 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Zoetis	40 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer MRK or ZTS?

Merck & Co., Inc. received 79 more outperform votes than Zoetis when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 77.94% of users gave Zoetis an outperform vote while only 66.80% of users gave Merck & Co., Inc. an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Merck & Co., Inc.	Outperform Votes 994 66.80%	Underperform Votes 494 33.20%
Zoetis	Outperform Votes 915 77.94%	Underperform Votes 259 22.06%

Is MRK or ZTS more profitable?

Zoetis has a net margin of 26.86% compared to Merck & Co., Inc.'s net margin of 26.67%. Zoetis' return on equity of 53.82% beat Merck & Co., Inc.'s return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Merck & Co., Inc.	26.67%	45.35%	17.36%
Zoetis	26.86%	53.82%	18.86%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in MRK or ZTS?

76.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.8% of Zoetis shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Zoetis shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Zoetis beats Merck & Co., Inc. on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.