Merck a strong value with strong technicals and upcoming newsI've been holding Merck since its big dip to $76 back in June. At the time I set a price target of $82:
However, I didn't sell at $82 and have continued to hold the stock due to strong fundamentals, technicals, news, and sentiment. Merck has positive earnings and sales growth, with PEG ratio of 1.7 and PSG ratio of 2.3. It has a nice dividend yield at 2.9%, a rarity for a stock with such strong growth. Analysts rate it highly, with an average score of 80.25/100 from S&P Global and an Equity Starmine Summary Score of 8.5/10. With a put/call ratio of 0.41, sentiment on Merck is stronger than on most of the other stocks I watch. It's got a good ESG score and a long history of beating analyst estimates. Plus it's poised to benefit from some hype around its antiviral drug intended to fight Covid-19 that starts clinical trials in September.
In technical terms, Merck recently broke out of a triangle, got a couple bullish moving average crosses, and today broke out above its recent trading range. If Merck oscillates down to its moving averages, I may use that as an opportunity to add to my position. I think the stock still has plenty of upside, especially when the clinical trial headlines start to hit.
