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.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) and Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, media sentiment, risk, valuation, community ranking and earnings.
Merck & Co., Inc. has a beta of 0.43, suggesting that its share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zoetis has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Merck & Co., Inc. received 79 more outperform votes than Zoetis when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 77.91% of users gave Zoetis an outperform vote while only 66.71% of users gave Merck & Co., Inc. an outperform vote.
Zoetis has a net margin of 26.86% compared to Merck & Co., Inc.'s net margin of 26.67%. Zoetis' return on equity of 53.82% beat Merck & Co., Inc.'s return on equity.
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.
In the previous week, Merck & Co., Inc. had 30 more articles in the media than Zoetis. MarketBeat recorded 64 mentions for Merck & Co., Inc. and 34 mentions for Zoetis. Zoetis' average media sentiment score of 1.58 beat Merck & Co., Inc.'s score of 1.16 indicating that Zoetis is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
76.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.8% of Zoetis shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Zoetis shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Merck & Co., Inc. pays an annual dividend of $3.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. Zoetis pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Merck & Co., Inc. pays out 47.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Zoetis pays out 35.9% 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. Merck & Co., Inc. has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years and Zoetis has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years.
Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus target price of $109.19, suggesting a potential upside of 40.13%. Zoetis has a consensus target price of $212.75, suggesting a potential upside of 30.02%. Given Merck & Co., Inc.'s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Merck & Co., Inc. is more favorable than Zoetis.
Summary
Zoetis beats Merck & Co., Inc. on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
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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 5/21/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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