Three companies that posted quarterly earnings yesterday are now on sale. PayPal (PYPL), Pfizer (PFE), and Merck (MRK) fell after disappointing investors.
PayPal posted revenue of $8.4 billion (+5% Y/Y). However, payment transactions per active account on a trailing 12-month basis grew by 3% to 60.6. Investors did not like the 20% net income decline to $1.1 billion, or $1.11 per diluted share. Furthermore, the operating income declined by 17% to $1.4 billion. This is a disappointment.
Investors may prefer to hold Visa (V), Mastercard (MA), or Block (XYZ) instead.
Pfizer lost 1.26% to close at $25.87. The drugmaker reported a nearly 25% Y/Y revenue increase to $17.8 billion. Although the company spent heavily on buying back stock last year, shareholders are not pleased with the current buyback authorization. Instead, Pfizer should pay back its debt pile.
Merck & Co. lost 9.07% to close at $90.74 on Feb. 4. The firm posted a weak outlook for this year. It also temporarily paused shipments of its HPV vaccine.
In Q4, Merck posted an adjusted EPS of $1.72. Revenue grew by 7% Y/Y to $15.62 billion, helped by sales of Keytruda. However, Gardasil sales weakened in China. It fell by 17% Y/Y to $1.55 billion.
For the year, Merck is forecasting sales of up to $65.6 billion. This is below the $67.4 billion consensus estimate.
