Merck news about the company’s performance during the fourth quarter of 2018 has MRK stock up on Friday.
Merck (NYSE:MRK) reported earnings per share of $1.04 for the fourth quarter of the year. This is an increase over the company’s earnings per share of 98 cents from the same period of the year prior. It was also a boon to MRK stock by coming in above Wall Street’s earnings per share estimate of $1.03 for the quarter.
The most recent Merck news also has the company reporting net income of $1.78 billion. This is better than the company’s net loss of $1.04 billion reported in the fourth quarter of the previous year.
The Merck earnings report for the the fourth quarter of 2018 also includes revenue of $11.00 billion. The pharmaceutical company’s revenue reported during the same time last year was $10.43 billion. This is also good news for MRK stock as it beats out analysts’ revenue estimate of $10.94 billion for the period.
The Merck news for the fourth quarter of 2018 also includes its outlook for the full year of 2019. The company says that it is expecting revenue for the year to range from $4.57 to $4.72. Wall Street is looking for earnings per share of $4.69 in 2019.
Merck also notes that it is expecting revenue for the full year of 2019 to come in between $43.20 billion and $44.70 billion. Analysts are currently estimating for MRK to report revenue of $44.54 billion for the year.
MRK stock was up 3% as of noon Friday.
As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
