Merck & Co., Inc. · MRK · FY2025 Q1 · Calendar Q2 2025

Merck Maintains Guidance Amid Tariff and Gardasil Risks

The supplied analysis supports a cautiously constructive view of Merck's operating trajectory: oncology, new launches, Animal Health and the late-stage pipeline provide growth support, while maintained guidance is a stabilizing signal. The thesis remains conditional on managing tariffs, Gardasil weakness in China and the longer-term Keytruda loss-of-exclusivity transition.

Reported Before market openNYSEHealthcare $358.60B market cap
80quality score

Earnings scorecard

Reported versus consensus
Reported EPS — Consensus $2.16
EPS surprise — Reported versus consensus
Reported revenue — Consensus $15.39B
Revenue surprise — Reported versus consensus

Market reaction

prior-close to event-session close
Stock move +1.4% Event window
SPY move +2.1% Same window
Abnormal move -0.7% Stock minus SPY
Volume 1.1× Versus trailing sessions
Subsequent drift -2.5% Up to 20 sessions
MRKSPY benchmark

Ask FN2 about MRK FY2025 Q1

Transcript, numbers and history already loaded

Free account. Your question opens in FN2 with this report's transcript and numbers attached.

Transcript intelligence

What changed

Management maintained full-year revenue and EPS guidance while emphasizing US manufacturing expansion, late-stage pipeline development and additional business development. The quarter also brought greater focus to tariff exposure, Gardasil weakness in China and preparation for Keytruda loss of exclusivity.

Guidance delta

Management maintained full-year revenue and EPS guidance; the guidance excludes potential business-development charges.

Key takeaways

  • Q1 revenue was described as $15.5 billion, with oncology and new launches offsetting soft spots.
  • Full-year revenue and EPS guidance was maintained, excluding potential business-development charges.
  • Management highlighted a late-stage pipeline of more than 20 candidates and continued US manufacturing expansion.
  • Keytruda patent expiry and weaker Gardasil demand in China remain important uncertainties.

Management priorities

  • Advance subcutaneous Keytruda and expanded WinRevair indications.
  • Continue US manufacturing expansion and allocate capital to new sites.
  • Advance late-stage pipeline candidates toward regulatory approval.
  • Pursue additional business-development transactions.

Follow MRK with an agent that reads every filing, transcript, and price print. Free to start.

Try FN2 free

Earnings History

Estimate Beat Miss Match
MRK EPS earnings history estimate and actual scatter chart 9 reported fiscal quarters and 3 future estimate-only quarters. Q1 '24 estimate $1.88 Q1 '24 actual $2.07, beat Q2 '24 estimate $2.15 Q2 '24 actual $2.28, beat Q3 '24 estimate $1.50 Q3 '24 actual $1.57, beat Q2 '25 estimate $2.03 Q2 '25 actual $2.13, beat Q3 '25 estimate $2.36 Q3 '25 actual $2.58, beat Q4 '25 estimate $2.01 Q4 '25 actual $2.04, beat Q1 '26 estimate $-1.47 Q1 '26 actual $-1.28, beat Q2 '26 estimate $-0.27 Q2 '26 actual $-0.13, beat Q3 '26 estimate $2.09 Q4 '26 estimate $1.96 Q1 '27 estimate $2.21
Show 1 more >

Analyst Consensus ?

ConsensusBuy38 ratings
Bullish2668.4%
Neutral1129.0%
Bearish12.6%

Analyst 52W Price Targets

$147.35Current
$80Low
$137.25Average
$180High

Latest persisted target per named analyst; persisted current price from FN2's market snapshot as of Oct 16, 2026. Not an FN2 forecast.

Firm-level rating actions

FMP grade actions identify the grading firm, not a named analyst.

FirmRatingPrior ratingActionDate
RBC Capital Sector Perform Sector PerformMaintainOct 12, 2026
Citigroup Neutral NeutralMaintainOct 12, 2026
Cantor Fitzgerald Neutral NeutralMaintainOct 8, 2026
Morgan Stanley Overweight OverweightMaintainOct 7, 2026
JP Morgan Overweight OverweightMaintainOct 5, 2026
Show 33 more rating actions

Named analyst price targets

Upside is calculated against the persisted current price $147.36. FMP does not supply a rating on these named-analyst rows.

FirmAnalyst52W targetPrice when postedUpsideDate
RBC CapitalTrung Huynh$145$145.6 -1.6%Oct 12, 2026
Cantor FitzgeraldCarter Gould$145$142.79 -1.6%Oct 8, 2026
ScotiabankAnalyst unavailable$180$147.15 +22.2%Sep 29, 2026
Berenberg BankLuisa Hector$137$144.71 -7.0%Sep 11, 2026
HSBCAnalyst unavailable$172$147.6 +16.7%Sep 10, 2026
See 87 more

Track every rating change on MRK the moment it posts. Free to start.

Start free

Company context

Snapshot as of publication

Merck & Co., Inc. is a global healthcare leader with operations spanning two core divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment is dedicated to human health, offering a broad spectrum of medicinal products. These cover crucial therapeutic areas such as oncology, acute hospital care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular conditions, and diabetes. This division also develops vital preventive vaccines for pediatric, adolescent, and adult populations. Meanwhile, the Animal Health segment focuses on the research, development, manufacturing, and marketing of veterinary medications, vaccines, and comprehensive health management solutions for animals. This division further provides innovative digital products designed for animal identification, traceability, and continuous monitoring.…

Historical context

All MRK earnings

Latest beats and misses

Who reports next

Get the MRK recap when the next report posts

One email per quarter with the scorecard, the market reaction and what changed on the call. No account needed.

Sources

  1. Earnings call transcript and parsed analysis · 2026-05-11T10:29:34.698584+00:00
  2. FN2 earnings calendar · 2025-04-10T00:01:43.729046+00:00
  3. Polygon adjusted daily market bars · 2026-10-16T13:00:42.893989+00:00
  4. Financial Modeling Prep analyst price-target consensus and quote snapshot · 2026-10-16T13:00:42.891102+00:00

Methodology

Reported and consensus figures come from FN2's earnings event records. Market reaction and volume are calculated from daily adjusted bars around the event; abnormal move subtracts the SPY move over the same window.

Analyst target low, average, and high values are derived at request time from each named analyst's latest persisted FMP target. The current-price marker comes from FN2's persisted market snapshot. They are sell-side estimates, not an FN2 valuation or recommendation.

Transcript intelligence is a structured synthesis of the current and prior earnings-call analyses. Missing values stay missing and are never estimated.

By FN2 Research · Updated · As of 2026-10-16. For educational purposes only; not investment advice.