{"id":898743,"date":"2026-10-29T13:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T13:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/898743\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T13:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T13:00:11","slug":"merck-mrk-earnings-q3-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/898743\/","title":{"rendered":"Merck (MRK) earnings Q3 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Merck<\/a> on Thursday topped third-quarter estimates and hiked its adjusted profit outlook, as its immunotherapy Keytruda, including a newer injectable form of the drug, showed stronger-than-expected sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pharmaceutical giant now expects adjusted earnings to be between $2.77 and $2.82 per share. That adjusted profit outlook is up from a previous range of $2.66 to $2.76 per share. The guidance now includes a one-time charge of $400 million, or 12 cents per share, related to its licensing agreement <\/a>with the Chinese cancer drugmaker SciBrunch.<\/p>\n

Merck also narrowed the low end of its 2026 revenue guidance, now expecting sales between $66.8 billion and $67.3 billion. That compares to a previous outlook of $66.3 billion to $67.3 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company has been on a deal spree as it races to offset generic competition for Keytruda after key patents begin expiring in 2028. <\/p>\n

Merck is also positioning the new form of the drug, Keytruda Qlex, as a cornerstone of its growth strategy. The goal is to transition patients from the original intravenous version to Qlex, considered a more convenient under-the-skin injection. This strategy allows the company to defend its market share and sustain Keytruda’s blockbuster sales beyond the original version’s loss of exclusivity.<\/p>\n

Keytruda raked in $8.60 billion in sales for the quarter, beating the $7.73 billion that analysts were expecting, according to StreetAccount. That includes $830 million in sales for Qlex \u2013 the highest seen in a quarter since it launched in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Analysts were expecting $649 million in sales, StreetAccount estimates said. The blowout quarter for the shot suggests it could soon eventually be a multibillion-dollar product annually.<\/p>\n

Here’s what Merck reported for the third quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earnings per share: $2.49 adjusted vs. $2.08 expectedRevenue: $18.09 billion vs. $17.31 billion expected<\/p>\n

The company posted a net income of $5.07 billion, or $2.04 per share, for the quarter. That compares with net income of $5.79 billion, or $2.32 per share, for the year-earlier period.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Excluding acquisition and restructuring costs, Merck posted earnings of $2.49 per share for the third quarter.<\/p>\n

Merck raked in $18.09 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 5% from the same period a year earlier.<\/p>\n

Beyond Keytruda, Merck’s newer products also showed strong growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Winrevair, which is used to treat a rare, deadly lung condition, generated $694 million in sales for the quarter, up 93% from the same period a year earlier. Analysts were expecting sales of $645 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Gardasil vaccine, which prevents cancers from HPV, a very common sexually transmitted infection, drew about $2 billion in sales due to higher demand in the U.S. That tops the $1.76 billion in sales that analysts were expecting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That strong revenue comes after Merck last year grappled with elevated Gardasil inventory and weak demand for the vaccine in China.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Merck’s animal health business posted $1.68 billion in sales for the third quarter, which came in slightly below analysts’ estimates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Merck on Thursday topped third-quarter estimates and hiked its adjusted profit outlook, as its immunotherapy Keytruda, including a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":898744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2602,244,448,28,122,8084,2601,223404,25310,247],"class_list":["post-898743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-biotech-and-pharmaceuticals","tag-biotechnology","tag-breaking-news-business","tag-business","tag-business-news","tag-earnings","tag-health-care-industry","tag-ishares-u-s-pharmaceuticals-etf","tag-merck-co-inc","tag-pharmaceuticals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}