Merck & Co Inc (NYSE:MRK)'s robust performance for the third quarter looks set to be greeted by Wall Street with a collective 'meh'.
Premarket, the shares were down even though the drugmaker's numbers exceeded market expectations primarily due to strong demand for its COVID-19 antiviral pill, Lagevrio, in Japan.
Sales for the three months were $15.96 billion, a notable increase from $14.96 billion in the same period last year, but also around $700 million ahead of the Street's estimates.
The company's net earnings for the quarter stood at $5.4 billion, or $2.13 per share, outperforming analysts' estimates of $1.95 per share.
Keytruda, Merck's leading cancer immunotherapy, saw a 17% sales increase, reaching $6.34 billion. Meanwhile, Gardasil, its vaccine for preventing human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers, rose 13% to $2.59 billion. Significantly, sales of Lagevrio surged by 47% to $640 million, far exceeding estimates of $120 million.
As part of its update, Merck has revised its full-year sales forecast for Lagevrio to $1.3 billion and now anticipates total sales for 2023 to be between $59.7 billion and $60.2 billion, up from its earlier prediction of $58.6 billion to $59.6 billion.
Ahead of the bell, the stock was off 47 cents at $103.16.