LLY vs MRK: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Eli Lilly and Company and Merck & Co., Inc. — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-09-26.
Eli Lilly and Company · Healthcare
$1,183.72
+2.1% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade B
High Quality
VS
Merck & Co., Inc. · Healthcare
$147.17
-4.1% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade C
QuantHub Verdict
LLY has more upside to fair value
(+2.1%).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
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Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
LLY |
MRK |
| Current Price |
$1,183.72 |
$147.17 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$1,208.00 |
$141.07 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+2.1%
|
-4.1%
|
| Market Cap |
$1,114.8B |
$363.5B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
26.8x
|
29.6x
|
| Price / Sales |
14.0x
|
5.5x
|
| Price / FCF |
52.7x
|
22.6x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+47.7%
|
+5.1%
|
| Gross Margin |
83.4%
|
75.4%
|
| Operating Margin |
49.7%
|
16.7%
|
| Return on Equity |
92.6%
|
6.6%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0.57% |
2.31% |
| FCF Yield |
1.9%
|
4.42%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Strong Buy
|
Buy
|
Investment Thesis
Eli Lilly is a global pharmaceutical company whose incretin franchise, led by Mounjaro and Zepbound, has become the dominant growth engine in diabetes and obesity care. The business quality is high: TTM gross margin is 83.4%, TTM operating margin is 49.7%, TTM net margin is 33.5%, and ROE is 92.6%, while revenue grew 47.7% and earnings grew 25.3% in the most recent quarter on a year-over-year bas…
Merck & Co., Inc. is a global healthcare leader with two core divisions, Pharmaceuticals and Animal Health, spanning oncology, vaccines, acute hospital care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular and diabetes, and it employs roughly 74,000 people under CEO Robert Davis. The business quality is medium: TTM gross margin of 75.4% and TTM operating margin of 16.7% reflect a genuinely hig…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
LLY |
MRK |
| Zone Low |
$906.00 |
$105.80 |
| Zone High |
$1,026.80 |
$119.91 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
No
|