In this article MRK Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT The exterior view of the entrance to Merck headquarters in Rahway, New Jersey, on Feb. 5, 2024. Spencer Platt | Getty Images Merck on Thursday reported third-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings that topped expectations as the company saw strong sales from its top-selling cancer drug Keytruda, recently launched treatments and its animal health business.
But Merck's vaccine that prevents cancer from HPV, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S., posted another quarter of lighter-than-expected sales.
Revenue from the shot, Gardasil, fell 11% compared to the year-earlier period, mainly due to lower demand in China. The pharmaceutical giant narrowed its full-year sales forecast to a range of $63.6 billion to $64.
1 billion, from a previous guidance of $63.4 billion to $64.4 billion.
Merck also lowered its adjusted profit guidance from a range of $7.72 to $7.77 per share, from a previous forecast of $7.
94 to $8.04 per share. That updated outlook reflects a one-time charge of 24 cents per share related to business development deals with Curon Biopharmaceutical and Daiichi Sankyo.
Here's what Merck reported for the third quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: Earnings per share: $1.57 adjusted vs. $1.
50 expected Revenue: $16.66 billion vs. $16.
46 billion expected Merck posted net income of $3.16 billion, or $1.24 per share, for the third quarter.