BAC vs MRK: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Bank of America Corporation and Merck & Co., Inc. — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-05-20.
Bank of America Corporation · Financial Services
$53.95
-41.2% upside to fair value
Grade C
VS
Merck & Co., Inc. · Healthcare
$114.27
+3.3% upside to fair value
Grade C
High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
MRK has more upside to fair value
(+3.3%).
BAC trades at a lower forward P/E
(12.3x).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
See all research →
Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
BAC |
MRK |
| Current Price |
$53.95 |
$114.27 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$31.74 |
$118.00 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
-41.2%
|
+3.3%
|
| Market Cap |
$387.2B |
$282.2B |
| Forward P/E |
12.3x
|
22.4x
|
| EV / EBITDA |
12.7x
|
13.5x
|
| Price / Sales |
2.2x
|
4.3x
|
| Price / FCF |
30.7x
|
20.2x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
-35.6%
|
+5.0%
|
| Gross Margin |
63.2%
|
81.9%
|
| Operating Margin |
22.9%
|
27.5%
|
| Return on Equity |
10.5%
|
5.6%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0% |
2.91% |
| FCF Yield |
3.26%
|
4.95%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Strong Buy
|
Overweight
|
Investment Thesis
Bank of America Corporation is a leading diversified bank with $3.41 trillion in assets and a broad footprint across consumer banking, global markets, wealth management, and corporate banking. The company benefits from a strong market position and experienced leadership under CEO Brian T. Moynihan. However, the stock is currently overvalued, trading approximately 36% above its fair value estimate…
Merck delivered a clean Q1 2026 operational beat on April 30, with revenue of 16.3 billion dollars growing 5 percent year over year and Keytruda sales rising 12 percent to 8.0 billion dollars. The reported loss of 1.28 dollars per share, though better than the negative 1.47 dollar consensus estimate, reflected a 3.62 dollar per share IPR and D charge tied to the Cidara Therapeutics acquisition an…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
BAC |
MRK |
| Zone Low |
$23.80 |
$88.50 |
| Zone High |
$26.98 |
$100.30 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
No
|