MRKMerck & Co., Inc.

Pharmaceutical Preparations

Revenue: $65.0B; 1.3% YoY
Operating margin: —
EBITDA: —
Market cap: $368.9B
Employees: 24,700; $3M revenue each
Net debt / EBITDA: —; $47.1B net debt
AI in 10-K: 1.1; mentions per 10K words

Takeover score 2 of 13

Fixable underperformance 1 of 7

TSR below peersYes
3 of 5 years
3+ of last 5 years
High CEO pay despite TSRNo
—
Median CEO pay ≥ $15M while TSR trails
Earnings not backed by cashNo
90% of net income
Cash flow under 80% of net income
Dilutive SBCNo
1% of revenue
Over 10% of revenue
Payouts exceed cash flowNo
81% of cash flow
Buybacks + dividends over cash flow
Goodwill-heavyNo
17% of assets
Over 40% of assets
Shareholder dissentNo
94% lowest support
Any vote under 80% support

Buyer economics 0 of 4

Low revenue per employeeNo
$3M · 94th pct
Bottom quartile of its SIC industry
Quiet on AINo
1.1 per 10K words · 35th pct
Bottom quartile of AI mentions in 10-Ks
Net cashNo
—
More cash than debt, positive EBITDA
Buyout-sizedNo
$368.9B market cap
Market cap $500M–$5B

Catalysts 1 of 2

Active 13DNo
0 filings
Active-intent 13D in 18 months
Net insider sellingYes
−$72M net
Net sales over $10M in 12 months

Financials

Metric	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025	YoY	Trend
Revenue	$48.7B	$59.3B	$60.1B	$64.2B	$65.0B	1.3%
Net income	$12.3B	$14.5B	$365M	$17.1B	$18.3B	6.6%
Operating cash flow	$13.1B	$19.1B	$13.0B	$21.5B	$16.5B	23%
Capex	$4.4B	$4.4B	$3.9B	$3.4B	$4.1B	22%
Stock-based comp	$479M	$541M	$645M	$761M	$820M	7.8%
Buybacks	$840M	$0	$1.3B	$1.3B	$5.1B	289%
Dividends	$6.6B	$7.0B	$7.4B	$7.8B	$8.2B	4.3%

Deal filings

None.

13D filers

None on file.

Insider trading

Open-market buys, 12 mo: $0 · 0
Open-market sells, 12 mo: $72M · 35
Net: −$72M

Pay vs performance

Year	CEO total comp	Comp actually paid	TSR (indexed)	Peer TSR
FY2025	—	—	158	198
FY2024	—	—	144	146
FY2023	—	—	154	134
FY2022	—	—	152	130
FY2021	—	—	102	122