MRK vs VST: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Merck & Co., Inc. and Vistra Corp. — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-08-06.
Merck & Co., Inc. · Healthcare
$113.87
-12.1% upside to fair value
Grade D
High Quality
VS
Vistra Corp. · Utilities
$140.58
+20.9% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade B
QuantHub Verdict
VST has more upside to fair value
(+20.9%).
VST trades at a lower forward P/E
(15.4x).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
See all research →
Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
MRK |
VST |
| Current Price |
$113.87 |
$140.58 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$100.14 |
$170.00 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
-12.1%
|
+20.9%
|
| Market Cap |
$281.2B |
$47.4B |
| Forward P/E |
32.0x
|
15.4x
|
| EV / EBITDA |
17.3x
|
9.3x
|
| Price / Sales |
4.3x
|
2.9x
|
| Price / FCF |
19.9x
|
42.5x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+4.3%
|
+20.0%
|
| Gross Margin |
75.9%
|
12.7%
|
| Operating Margin |
27.6%
|
2.1%
|
| Return on Equity |
17.9%
|
35.0%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0% |
0.65% |
| FCF Yield |
5.02%
|
2.4%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Hold
|
Strong Buy
|
Investment Thesis
Merck & Co., Inc. is a leading global healthcare company specializing in pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and animal health products. Its business quality is high, supported by a durable competitive moat anchored in the dominant global position of Keytruda in PD-1/PD-L1 oncology, a strong vaccines portfolio including Gardasil, and scale in R&D and manufacturing. The company benefits from a seasoned lea…
Vistra is an integrated merchant power producer and retail electricity supplier with roughly 38,700 MW of generation across natural gas, nuclear, coal, solar and battery storage, plus a roughly 4.3 million customer retail book (TXU and affiliated brands) across 20 states. The 2024 Energy Harbor deal made it the second-largest nuclear operator in the US, and that nuclear and gas fleet is now centr…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
MRK |
VST |
| Zone Low |
$75.11 |
$128.00 |
| Zone High |
$85.12 |
$145.00 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
Yes
|