Merck Close to 52-Week High After Earnings (MRK)
Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE: MRK) is trading up after its earnings report. With a high dividend yield of 4.4%, many investors are watching this despite a stance of little to no real growth coming from the Big Pharma giant. …
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Net income was $1.51 billion, or $0.49 in earnings per share; on an adjusted basis the figures were $2.98 billion in income and $0.97 EPS. We had estimates of $0.95 EPS for the adjusted figure. Revenue was up 1.6% to $12.29 billion and that was a bit shy of the $12.52 billion expected. Merck’s total pharmaceutical sales were up about 3% to $10.76 billion
As far as guidance, Merck gave a projected 2012 earnings range of $3.75 to $3.85 in earnings per share and the consensus estimate is $3.83 per share.
The only real driving force today is the higher dividend, which jumped to $0.42 at the last payment. That was the first such dividend hike since all the way back to 2004.
Maybe investors are pleased that generics are not killing brand drugs as much as feared. The stock is actually up 1.4% at $39.18 in the pre-market and investors need to remember that the 52-week high is $39.43 right now.
JON C. OGG
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.
