Topic: How To Invest

Power Growth Investor Hotline – Friday, June 21, 2024

Article Excerpt

MERCK & CO. INC., $130.72, is a buy. The drugmaker (symbol MRK on New York) is a pharmaceutical leader in oncology, acute-care and animal health drugs as well as vaccines. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has just approved Merck’s new pneumococcal vaccine. Pfizer (symbol PFE on New York, and a recommendation of our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter) currently dominates the market for pneumococcal vaccines, which protect against bacterial infections that can cause pneumonia and meningitis, among other conditions. Pfizer’s two shots—Prevnar 20 and Prevnar 13—brought in a combined $6.4 billion in revenue in 2023. That was more than all but two other Pfizer products. Merck, however, has been aiming to expand in Pneumonia vaccines for years. It currently sells Vaxneuvance and Pneumovax 23, pneumococcal vaccines with combined 2023 revenue of $1.1 billion. Now, the FDA has approved another Merck vaccine—Capvaxive, for adults ages 18 and above. Merck says the shot is specifically designed to protect adults and targets the strains of bacteria most responsible for causing pneumococcal…