MW Merck's Q3 earnings beat estimates but company lowers guidance

Merck & Co. Inc.'s stock $(MRK)$ rose 1.4% premarket Thursday, after the drug company beat profit and sales estimates for the third quarter, offsetting lowered guidance due to deals with partners Curon Biopharmaceutical and Daiichi Sankyo. The company posted net income of $3.157 billion, or $1.24 a share, for the quarter, down from $4.745 billion, or $1.86 a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted for one-time items that included a 79-cent-a-share charge related to business development deals, EPS came to $1.57, ahead of the FactSet consensus of $1.48. Sales rose 4% to $16.657 billion from $15.962 billion a year ago, also ahead of the $16.474 billion FactSet consensus. Sales were boosted by a 17% rise for the company's blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda, as well as new launches. Those were partially offset by lower sales of diabetic medicines Januvia and Janumet, lower combined sales of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine Gardasil/Gardasil 9, due to reduced demand in China, and lower sales of COVID antiviral Lagevrio. Merck lowered its full-year guidance and now sees adjusted EPS of $7.72 to $7.77, compared with prior guidance of $7.94 to $8;.04. It now expects sales to range from $63.6 billion to $64.1 billon, compared with prior guidance of $63.4 billion to $64.4 billion. The stock has fallen 3.8% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 21.9%.

-Ciara Linnane

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October 31, 2024 06:43 ET (10:43 GMT)

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