Merck beats Street 3Q forecasts

Merck & Co. (MRK) on Tuesday reported third-quarter net income of $2.18 billion.

The Kenilworth, New Jersey-based company said it had profit of 78 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to $1.07 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 98 cents per share.

The pharmaceutical company posted revenue of $10.54 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $10.24 billion.

Merck expects full-year earnings in the range of $3.71 to $3.78 per share, with revenue in the range of $39.7 billion to $40.2 billion.

Merck shares have risen 15 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen slightly more than 5 percent. The stock has increased 17 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MRK at http://www.zacks.com/ap/MRK

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Keywords: Merck, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings