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 2026-05-20.
Eli Lilly and Company · Healthcare
$934.34
+17.6% upside to fair value
Grade B
High Quality
VS
Merck & Co., Inc. · Healthcare
$114.27
+3.3% upside to fair value
Grade C
High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
LLY has more upside to fair value
(+17.6%).
MRK trades at a lower forward P/E
(22.4x).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
See all research →
Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
LLY |
MRK |
| Current Price |
$934.34 |
$114.27 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$1,098.43 |
$118.00 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
+17.6%
|
+3.3%
|
| Market Cap |
$882.8B |
$282.2B |
| Forward P/E |
33.1x
|
22.4x
|
| EV / EBITDA |
27.9x
|
13.5x
|
| Price / Sales |
12.2x
|
4.3x
|
| Price / FCF |
65.0x
|
20.2x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+55.5%
|
+5.0%
|
| Gross Margin |
82.7%
|
81.9%
|
| Operating Margin |
46.3%
|
27.5%
|
| Return on Equity |
101.3%
|
5.6%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0% |
2.91% |
| FCF Yield |
1.54%
|
4.95%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Strong Buy
|
Overweight
|
Investment Thesis
Eli Lilly and Company is a leading global pharmaceutical firm with a dominant position in the diabetes and obesity markets, driven by its blockbuster GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound which generated $36.5 billion in FY2025. The company reported $65.2 billion in total revenue for 2025, making it the top pharma by revenue globally. It exhibits high business quality with a durable competitive moat …
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 |
LLY |
MRK |
| Zone Low |
$823.82 |
$88.50 |
| Zone High |
$933.67 |
$100.30 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
No
|