MRK vs TTD: Which Is the Better Buy?

Side-by-side comparison of Merck & Co., Inc. and The Trade Desk, Inc. β€” fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals. Updated 2026-09-18.
Merck & Co., Inc. Β· Healthcare
$147.17
-4.1% upside to fair value
Med Conviction Grade C
VS
The Trade Desk, Inc. Β· Communication Services
$14.26
-1.8% upside to fair value
Med Conviction Grade C High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
TTD has more upside to fair value (-1.8%). These are model outputs β€” not personalized investment advice. See all research β†’
Valuation & Fundamentals
Metric MRK TTD
Current Price $147.17 $14.26
Fair Value Estimate $141.07 $14.00
Upside to Fair Value -4.1% -1.8%
Market Cap $363.5B $6.7B
Forward P/E β€” β€”
EV / EBITDA 29.6x 7.5x
Price / Sales 5.5x 2.2x
Price / FCF 22.6x 7.8x
Revenue Growth YoY +5.1% +3.0%
Gross Margin 75.4% 83.0%
Operating Margin 16.7% 19.6%
Return on Equity 6.6% 16.1%
Dividend Yield 2.31% 0%
FCF Yield 4.42% 12.89%
Analyst Consensus Buy Hold
Investment Thesis
MRK β€” 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 hig…
TTD β€” The Trade Desk, Inc.
The Trade Desk operates a self-service, cloud-based demand-side platform that lets advertising agencies and their advertiser clients plan, buy and optimize data-driven digital campaigns across display, video, audio, native, social and connected TV, with 3,843 employees and a founder-led management team. Business quality is genuinely high on the unit economics: TTM gross margin of 83.0%, TTM opera…
Accumulation Zones
Metric MRK TTD
Zone Low $105.80 $10.50
Zone High $119.91 $11.90
In Buy Zone? No No
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