Merck & Co Inc (NYSE:MRK) is slated to report its second quarter earnings on August 1 before the opening bell, and analysts will be watching for another earnings beat.
The pharmaceutical giant has topped earnings expectations in each of the last four quarters. This time around, the Street projects a loss of $2.18 per share on revenue of $14.43 billion.
Investors will be watching for sales growth, which in recent quarters has been boosted by demand for its cancer drug Keytruda and HPV vaccine Gardasil, according to reports.
However, Zack Equity Research analysts expect Keytruda’s year-over-year growth rate in the US to have moderated in the second quarter due to slower “initial uptake of earlier-stage indications.”
Revenue will also be affected by Merck no longer having US market exclusivity for drugs including Remicade, Noxafil and Zetia.
Conversely, one potentially positive indicator of future results is the fact that existing institutional investors have upped their stakes recently.
Summit Financial Group raised its holdings by 1.6% during the third quarter of 2023, and Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its stake by 0.3% in the first quarter, according to reports.
First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA, Nelson Van Denburg & Campbell Wealth Management Group LLC and KC Investment Advisors LLC are three others that have done the same, which brings the total in Merck held by institutional investors and hedge funds to more than 76%.
Investors will be watching the pharmaceutical industry closely August 1, with Pfizer also due to report earnings before the bell.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
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