5 Best Covid Vaccine and Pill Stocks To Invest In

2. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 79

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is a New Jersey-based healthcare company. It has a market cap of more than $222 billion and is one of the biggest pharma stocks in the United States. The stock has been rallying recently and touched a 52-week high late last month on the back of reports that the company had developed a COVID-19 pill. It also recently beat market expectations on earnings per share and revenue in the third quarter results. 

Analysts have been upgrading Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) stock on these positive catalysts. Argus and SVB Leerink are both positive on the long-term outlook of the firm, with Buy and Outperform ratings respectively. 

Among the hedge funds being tracked by Insider Monkey, Washington-based investment firm Fisher Asset Management is a leading shareholder in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) with 10.3 million shares worth more than $802 million. 

In its Q1 2021 investor letter, Artisan Partners highlighted a few stocks and Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)  was one of them. Here is what the fund said:

“In Q1, we initiated a position in Merck, a provider of health care solutions including prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health and consumer care products. We purchased Merck when the stock came under pressure in part on concerns that the newly minted Biden administration could implement regulatory changes and lower drug costs in the pharmaceutical industry. Recent, but anticipated changes to Merck’s management team have also weighed on shares, as have concerns over the company’s heavy reliance on immunotherapy treatment Keytruda. Notably, Merck is not getting much credit from investors for the 60+ programs it has in clinical development, despite having several solid and large new product opportunities. Additionally, the company’s strong balance sheet and robust free cash flow provide it multiple options for future partnerships and acquisitions. While Merck is undergoing a period of transition, we think the company’s fundamentals are strong and believe changes to management should be a catalyst for improvement.”