Merck & Co (NYSE:MRK) is ranked as a Hold using Louis Navellier's Portfolio Grader stock evaluator, which incorporates his investing methodology. The current overall Portfolio Grader recommendation on the shares has changed twice in the past month, which represents a greater level of change than is typical.
The company is a member of the 133 company Pharmaceuticals GICS industry group, which is part of the 783 company GICS Health Care sector. MRK's market value is $174.1 billion which falls in the top 10% of its industry group Portfolio Grader's current ranking for MRK puts it 61 among the 133 companies in this industry group, putting it in the second quartile.
Portfolio Grader currently ranks the Health Care sector number 8 among the 12 sectors in its universe putting it in the third quartile of all the GICS sectors. The Pharmaceuticals industry group is ranked 56 among the 69 industry groups within the GICS sectors, placing it well below-average in terms of the Navellier scoring system.
MRK has received above-average scores in 5 of the 8 fundamental areas appraised by Portfolio Grader and average or below-average scores in 3 of the areas evaluated in the ranking of company stocks.
The company's operational scores provide mixed results with rankings for operating margin and earnings growth that are well above average, while the score for sales growth is below average. Scores for visibility of earnings are mixed, with rankings for earnings surprises and earnings momentum that are better than average, while the score for earnings revisions is worse than average. MRK's score for return on equity is appreciably better than its industry group average but its ranking for cash flow is below-average. Merck & Co's fundamental scores give MRK a place in the top decile of the industry group.
Portfolio Grader quantitatively gauges MRK's shares using the Navellier Proprietary Quantitative Score. This metric looks at MRK's shares from the angle of risk/reward. This proprietary scoring system considers the relative value of MRK's shares based on the current price of the shares relative to its peers, the market and risk associated with its industry and sector groups. Using this risk/reward calculation, the company currently scores below-average in its industry group compared to its peers.
Louis Navellier's proprietary Portfolio Grader stock ranking system assesses roughly 5,000 companies every week based on a number of fundamental and quantitative measures. Stocks are given a letter grade based on their results, with A being 'strong buy' and F being 'strong sell'. Explore the tool here.
Commentary provided by UpTick Data Technologies.
