MRK vs. AMGN, CORT, GILD, MRNA, VRTX, ABBV, BMY, JNJ, LLY, and PFE
Should you be buying Merck & Co., Inc. stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Merck & Co., Inc. include Amgen (AMGN), Corcept Therapeutics (CORT), Gilead Sciences (GILD), Moderna (MRNA), Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), AbbVie (ABBV), Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Eli Lilly and Company (LLY), and Pfizer (PFE). These companies are all part of the "medical" sector.
Merck & Co., Inc. vs. Its Competitors
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) and Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.
Merck & Co., Inc. presently has a consensus target price of $107.44, indicating a potential upside of 29.80%. Amgen has a consensus target price of $303.76, indicating a potential upside of 4.64%. Given Merck & Co., Inc.'s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Merck & Co., Inc. is more favorable than Amgen.
Merck & Co., Inc. pays an annual dividend of $3.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.9%. Amgen pays an annual dividend of $9.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Merck & Co., Inc. pays out 49.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Amgen pays out 77.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Merck & Co., Inc. has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years and Amgen has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Merck & Co., Inc. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Merck & Co., Inc. has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amgen has a beta of 0.49, indicating that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Merck & Co., Inc. has a net margin of 25.79% compared to Amgen's net margin of 18.96%. Amgen's return on equity of 174.71% beat Merck & Co., Inc.'s return on equity.
76.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.5% of Amgen shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Amgen shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
In the previous week, Amgen had 1 more articles in the media than Merck & Co., Inc.. MarketBeat recorded 71 mentions for Amgen and 70 mentions for Merck & Co., Inc.. Merck & Co., Inc.'s average media sentiment score of 1.53 beat Amgen's score of 1.05 indicating that Merck & Co., Inc. is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Merck & Co., Inc. has higher revenue and earnings than Amgen. Merck & Co., Inc. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Amgen, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Merck & Co., Inc. and Amgen tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding MRK and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Merck & Co., Inc. Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:MRK) was last updated on 8/15/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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