MRK vs TSM: Which Is the Better Buy?

Side-by-side comparison of Merck & Co., Inc. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited โ€” fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals. Updated 2026-09-23.
Merck & Co., Inc. ยท Healthcare
$147.17
-4.1% upside to fair value
Med Conviction Grade C
VS
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited ยท Technology
$452.00
+13.9% upside to fair value
Med Conviction Grade B High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
TSM has more upside to fair value (+13.9%). These are model outputs โ€” not personalized investment advice. See all research โ†’
Valuation & Fundamentals
Metric MRK TSM
Current Price $147.17 $452.00
Fair Value Estimate $141.07 $515.00
Upside to Fair Value -4.1% +13.9%
Market Cap $363.5B $2,344.3B
Forward P/E โ€” โ€”
EV / EBITDA 29.6x 19.2x
Price / Sales 5.5x 0.5x
Price / FCF 22.6x 2.1x
Revenue Growth YoY +5.1% +36.0%
Gross Margin 75.4% 64.2%
Operating Margin 16.7% 56.0%
Return on Equity 6.6% 39.3%
Dividend Yield 2.31% 0.96%
FCF Yield 4.42% 47.62%
Analyst Consensus Buy Buy
Investment Thesis
MRK โ€” Merck & Co., Inc.
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 higโ€ฆ
TSM โ€” Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is the world's largest contract chipmaker, manufacturing advanced logic, mixed-signal, RF, and embedded memory wafers for high-performance computing, smartphones, IoT, and automotive customers from a base of 65,152 employees headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The business quality is exceptionally high: TTM gross margin is 64.2%, TTM operating margin is 56โ€ฆ
Accumulation Zones
Metric MRK TSM
Zone Low $105.80 $386.25
Zone High $119.91 $437.75
In Buy Zone? No No
โ† MRK Research    TSM Research โ†’    All Research