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TheStreet Wire

Dow Today: Merck (MRK) Higher

By TheStreet Wire 05/14/12 - 01:00 PM EDT

Find out if (MRK) is in Cramer's Portfolio.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) is trading down 75.0 points (-0.6%) at 12,745 as of Monday, May 14, 2012, 1:35 p.m. ET. During this time, 423.3 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 723.9 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 580 issues advancing vs. 2,404 declining with 103 unchanged.

The Dow component leading the way higher looks to be Merck (NYSE:MRK), which is sporting a 24-cent gain (+0.6%) bringing the stock to $38.26. Volume for Merck currently sits at 10.6 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 14 million shares.

Merck has a market cap of $116.77 billion and is part of the health care sector and drugs industry. Shares are up 1.8% year to date as of Friday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 4.4%.

Merck & Co., Inc. provides various health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. The company has a P/E ratio of 17.1, equal to the average drugs industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates Merck as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income and good cash flow from operations. Although the company may harbor some minor weaknesses, we feel they are unlikely to have a significant impact on results.

You can view the full Merck Ratings Report.

For more information on Dow Jones Industrial Average click any of the following:

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