We recently published a list of Jim Cramer’s Latest Calls: Top 10 Stocks. Since Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) ranks 2nd on the list, it deserves a deeper look.
Jim Cramer in a latest program said that if companies would “own up” to the changing circumstances, things would be “so much easier” for them as well as investors.
“There is so much information and misinformation flying around at this point in the earnings season that it’s very easy to be led astray,” Cramer said.
Cramer thinks companies are “leaving out” important information which can cause investors to make “faulty decisions.”
As an example, Cramer talked about how food and beverage companies are not talking about the impact of weight loss drugs on their financials
Cramer said that GLP-1 drugs are extremely “powerful” and they cause a decline in cravings for snacks and liquor. This, according to Cramer, directly affects beverage and snack companies. However, Cramer said these companies are intentionally not mentioning the impact of these drugs.
“I wonder how long they can maintain this fiction, it’ll be better if they just own that it’s a problem rather than just ignoring it.”
Cramer was also furious that consumer companies are not admitting that high prices are impacting their financials. He said hotels and entertainment companies raised prices in the past but now they are not willing to bring them down despite facing pricing headwinds.
Cramer also called the claims that huge AI investments are not bringing any solid results for companies “absurd.”
We watched several latest programs of Jim Cramer on CNBC and picked 10 important stocks he’s talking about. With each stock we have mentioned the number of hedge fund investors. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
Merck & Co Inc (NYSE:MRK)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 95
Jim Cramer was asked by a caller during his latest program whether he should hold MRK. Here is what Cramer said:
“No, you should not hold MRK, you should buy MRK. I have tremendous, tremendous faith in what Robert M Davis (MRK CEO) is doing.”
Wall Street expects Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) 2025 EPS to come in at $9.95. Based on the stock’s current price, Merck & Co. Inc.’s (NYSE:MRK) forward P/E ratio is 14, compared to the industry average of 19.79 and lower than Merck’s 5-year average P/E of 18.67. Wall Street expects Merck & Co. Inc.’s (NYSE:MRK) revenue to jump 7.30% while earnings growth is expected to clock in at 15.00%. Wall Street estimates suggest Merck’s EPS will grow to $12.5 by the end of fiscal year 2028. This translates to a CAGR of 7.6% between fiscal years 2024 and 2028.
Analysts believe Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) has done a decent job at diversifying its drug portfolio and expanding across different geographies. The company makes money from vaccines and immunotherapy drugs
Sales growth momentum of Keytruda is also expected to continue as the drug is patent-protected until 2028. Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is also investing heavily into R&D to make new drugs for unmet medical needs, such as oncology and immuno-oncology. Average analyst price estimate for Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is $140, which presents a 22% upside potential from the current levels.
Carillon Eagle Growth & Income Fund stated the following regarding Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“After posting lackluster returns in 2023, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) got off to a strong start in January by raising the long-term sales forecasts for its oncology and cardiology pipelines and reporting solid fourth-quarter results, coupled with strong financial guidance for 2024. Merck shares also finished the quarter strong after receiving U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in late March for a new cardiology medicine with the potential to contribute significantly to sales growth over the next several years.”
Overall, Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) ranks 2nd on Insider Monkey’s list titled Jim Cramer’s Latest Calls: Top 10 Stocks. While we acknowledge the potential of Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK), our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than MRK but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.