CVX vs MRK: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Chevron Corporation and Merck & Co., Inc. — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-05-20.
Chevron Corporation · Energy
$193.33
-18.2% upside to fair value
Grade D
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%).
MRK trades at a lower forward P/E
(22.4x).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
See all research →
Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
CVX |
MRK |
| Current Price |
$193.33 |
$114.27 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$158.09 |
$118.00 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
-18.2%
|
+3.3%
|
| Market Cap |
$385.8B |
$282.2B |
| Forward P/E |
31.3x
|
22.4x
|
| EV / EBITDA |
10.3x
|
13.5x
|
| Price / Sales |
2.1x
|
4.3x
|
| Price / FCF |
23.8x
|
20.2x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
-5.3%
|
+5.0%
|
| Gross Margin |
30.4%
|
81.9%
|
| Operating Margin |
9.0%
|
27.5%
|
| Return on Equity |
7.3%
|
5.6%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0% |
2.91% |
| FCF Yield |
4.19%
|
4.95%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Strong Buy
|
Overweight
|
Investment Thesis
Chevron Corporation operates as a leading integrated oil and gas company with significant upstream and downstream operations. The company benefits from experienced leadership under CEO Mike Wirth, who has over 44 years with Chevron, and maintains a strong market position as the second largest Big Oil major by market cap and net profits. However, Chevron currently trades at a very expensive valuat…
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 |
CVX |
MRK |
| Zone Low |
$118.57 |
$88.50 |
| Zone High |
$134.38 |
$100.30 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
No
|