We recently published a list of 10 Important News Updates Investors Shouldn’t Miss. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) stands against other important news updates investors shouldn’t miss.
Investor optimism is still strong despite ongoing economic uncertainties, with analysts highlighting some important factors that are driving market performance. Earnings growth, technological advancements, and investment trends continue to shape the outlook, while interest rates and inflation are still important considerations. Experts are assessing how these elements will influence long-term market trends and whether the current bull run can be sustained in the coming years.
Bull Market Trends and the Future of Investments
At CNBC’s Squawk Box, Mary Ann Bartels of Sanctuary Wealth showed bullish sentiment toward the market, especially due to strong earnings growth. She compared the current environment to past periods of innovation, such as the 1920s and 1990s, emphasizing the role of AI, robotics, and Web3 in driving long-term growth. Unlike the 1990s, she noted that companies today are funding investments with cash and equity rather than excessive leverage. She believes that the S&P could reach 7,200 to 7,400 this year and 10,000 to 13,000 by the end of the decade, as she expects the bull market to extend through 2029 to 2030.
Despite concerns about past market crashes, Bartels believes the current rally is more sustainable due to the large amount of cash on the sidelines and relatively low market leverage. While she acknowledged the possibility of another bear market, she expects a recovery leading to new highs.
Moreover, Bartels sees the 10-year Treasury yield fluctuating between 4% and 5% in 2024, with near-term expectations of 4.2% before potentially rising again if economic growth remains strong. She also warned that inflation data, including PPI and CPI, could impact yields, and require close monitoring.
For this article, we selected stocks by reviewing news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. We listed the stocks in ascending order of their hedge fund sentiment taken from Insider Monkey’s database of 900 hedge funds.
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).
A close-up of a person’s hand holding a bottle of pharmaceuticals.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 86
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is a global healthcare company specializing in pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and animal health products.
On February 10, TD Cowen downgraded Merck (NYSE:MRK) to Hold from Buy and lowered its price target to $100 from $121. The firm initially upgraded the stock in early 2024, expecting a strong performance from Keytruda and Gardasil, a lack of major risks, and management’s efforts to extend Keytruda’s outlook. However, concerns over Gardasil’s issues in China and growing uncertainty have weakened this view. Furthermore, the firm sees challenges due to the upcoming loss of exclusivity for Keytruda in 2028 in the U.S. and 2031 in the EU.
Overall, MRK ranks 2nd on our list of important news updates investors shouldn’t miss. While we acknowledge the potential of MRK as an investment, 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.
