Shares of Merck & Co. Inc. MRK, -0.86% rose 1.0% in premarket trading Thursday, after the drug maker and animal health company reported third-quarter profit and revenue that rose above expectations and provided and upbeat full-year outlook. Net income rose to $4.57 billion, or $1.80 a share, from $2.94 billion, or $1.16 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to $1.75 from $1.37, and beat the FactSet consensus of $1.55. Sales grew 20.4% to $13.15 billion, well above the FactSet consensus of $12.32 billion, as pharmaceutical sales increased 18.3% to $11.50 billion, with Keytruda sales rising 22.0%, and animal health sales rose 16.1% to $1.42 billion. For 2021, the company expects adjusted EPS of $5.65 to $5.70, above the FactSet consensus of $5.63, and revenue of $47.4 billion to $47.9 billion, surrounding expectations of $47.60 billion. The stock has gained 4.1% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.74% has tacked on 1.6%.
View Article Origin Here
