ZTS vs. MRK, PFE, BMY, RPRX, CORT, JAZZ, PRGO, SUPN, PCRX, and OMER
Should you be buying Zoetis stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Zoetis include Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK), Pfizer (PFE), Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY), Royalty Pharma (RPRX), Corcept Therapeutics (CORT), Jazz Pharmaceuticals (JAZZ), Perrigo (PRGO), Supernus Pharmaceuticals (SUPN), Pacira BioSciences (PCRX), and Omeros (OMER). These companies are all part of the "pharmaceuticals" industry.
Zoetis vs. Its Competitors
Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) and Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.
Zoetis currently has a consensus price target of $212.13, suggesting a potential upside of 36.12%. Merck & Co., Inc. has a consensus price target of $109.19, suggesting a potential upside of 37.02%. Given Merck & Co., Inc.'s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Merck & Co., Inc. is more favorable than Zoetis.
92.8% of Zoetis shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Zoetis shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, Merck & Co., Inc. had 44 more articles in the media than Zoetis. MarketBeat recorded 80 mentions for Merck & Co., Inc. and 36 mentions for Zoetis. Merck & Co., Inc.'s average media sentiment score of 1.41 beat Zoetis' score of 1.41 indicating that Merck & Co., Inc. is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Zoetis pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Merck & Co., Inc. pays an annual dividend of $3.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Zoetis pays out 35.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Merck & Co., Inc. pays out 47.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Zoetis has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years and Merck & Co., Inc. has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years.
Merck & Co., Inc. has a net margin of 27.27% compared to Zoetis' net margin of 27.12%. Zoetis' return on equity of 55.48% beat Merck & Co., Inc.'s return on equity.
Zoetis has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Merck & Co., Inc. has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Merck & Co., Inc. has higher revenue and earnings than Zoetis. Merck & Co., Inc. is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Zoetis, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Zoetis beats Merck & Co., Inc. on 9 of the 17 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 ZTS 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.
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This page (NYSE:ZTS) was last updated on 7/1/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
