Merck & Co. (MRK) Earnings: Q3 2026 Results

The quarter ended September 30, 2026 and Merck & Co. published the results on October 29, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q3 2025, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison. Merck & Co. reports EPS two ways: GAAP, under the accounting rules every US filer follows, and non-GAAP, which leaves out items the company considers outside its operating results. The release reconciles the two, and when they diverge, the reconciliation says why.

• Both GAAP and non-GAAP EPS for Q3 2026 include a one-time charge of $0.12 per share for Merck's global license agreement with SciBrunch. Both figures for Q3 2025 include a $0.10 per share charge for a milestone payment to LaNova.
• Merck's GAAP EPS was negative in Q1 and Q2 2026 because of one-time R&D charges for the acquisitions of Cidara (January 2026) and Terns (May 2026).

Source: Merck Q3 2026 results, October 29, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How Merck & Co. splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q3 2026 against Q3 2025. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• Merck & Co.'s Pharmaceutical revenue was $16.3 billion in Q3 2026, up 4% from $15.6 billion in Q3 2025, 90% of total revenue.
• Merck & Co.'s Animal Health revenue was $1.7 billion in Q3 2026, up 4% from $1.6 billion in Q3 2025, 9% of total revenue.
• Merck & Co.'s Other Revenues revenue was $141 million in Q3 2026, up 182% from $50.0 million in Q3 2025, under 1% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

In its Q3 2026 release, Merck & Co. said:

“The Company now anticipates full-year 2026 sales to be between $66.8 billion and $67.3 billion, including a positive impact from foreign exchange of approximately 1% at mid-October 2026 exchange rates.”

“The Company now expects full-year 2026 non-GAAP EPS to be between $2.77 and $2.82, including a positive impact from foreign exchange of approximately $0.15 per share at mid-October 2026 exchange rates.”

“This range includes one-time charges of $9.0 billion, or $3.62 per share, related to the acquisition of Cidara; $5.7 billion, or $2.31 per share, related to the acquisition of Terns; and $400 million, or $0.12 per share, related to the global license agreement with SciBrunch.”

“Consistent with past practice, the financial outlook does not assume additional significant potential business development transactions.”

Source: Merck Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Oct 29, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the MRK forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

GAAP sales and diluted EPS, each as first reported in that quarter's release. The Q1 and Q2 2026 losses per share come from one-time R&D charges for the Cidara and Terns acquisitions.

We do not hold a confirmed date for Merck & Co.'s next report. Companies post the date on their investor relations site a few weeks ahead, usually with the time of the conference call.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q3 2026 (this page), reported Oct 29, 2026

Merck & Co. reports two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. In Q3 2026 Pharmaceutical sales were $16,268 million and Animal Health sales $1,676 million, out of total sales of $18,085 million. Other revenues of $141 million, mostly third-party manufacturing and revenue-hedging activities, make up the rest. (Merck Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026; Merck Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 4, 2026)

KEYTRUDA and KEYTRUDA QLEX brought in $8,601 million, up 6%, including $830 million from the subcutaneous KEYTRUDA QLEX. Merck attributes the growth to uptake in earlier-stage indications including triple-negative breast, cervical, head and neck and bladder cancer, and to higher demand in metastatic indications. In 2025 Keytruda was 49% of Merck's total sales. (Merck Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026; Merck Form 10-K, 2025, Feb 24, 2026)

GARDASIL/GARDASIL 9 sales rose 14% to $1,995 million on favorable U.S. public-sector purchasing patterns and higher net pricing, and WINREVAIR rose 93% to $694 million. Merck says Pharmaceutical growth benefited from the timing of purchases by approximately $550 million. Products that have lost U.S. exclusivity fell: JANUVIA/JANUMET dropped 39% to $380 million and BRIDION 67% to $144 million, both on generic competition. (Merck Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

Animal Health grew 4% to $1,676 million: Livestock $1,048 million, driven by poultry products, and Companion Animal $628 million, driven by new product launches. The BRAVECTO line contributed $264 million. (Merck Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

Merck expects Keytruda sales to be materially negatively affected by biosimilar competition between 2028 and 2029, and says competition could begin in December 2028 when the primary compound patent expires. It also expects Keytruda to be selected in 2027 for U.S. government price setting, effective January 1, 2029. (Merck Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 4, 2026)

Merck & Co.'s GAAP EPS was $2.04 in Q3 2026 and its non-GAAP EPS $2.49. Non-GAAP EPS excludes acquisition- and divestiture-related costs ($1,167 million pre-tax in the quarter, including amortization of intangible assets), restructuring costs ($581 million) and income from investments in equity securities ($393 million). Both figures include a one-time charge of $0.12 per share, a $400 million R&D charge for the global license agreement with SciBrunch. (Merck Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

Both measures fell from a year earlier. Merck puts the decline in GAAP EPS from $2.32 down to higher operating expenses for the R&D pipeline and product launches, higher amortization of intangible assets, higher net interest expense and increased restructuring costs, partly offset by a lower tax rate. The GAAP effective tax rate was 8.9%, against 14.2% a year earlier, and GAAP gross margin fell to 72.9% from 77.7%. (Merck Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

Average diluted shares were 2,478 million, against 2,498 million a year earlier. Merck spent $2,284 million on purchases of treasury stock in the first nine months of 2026, against $3,832 million in the same period of 2025, while paying $9.2 billion for Cidara in January 2026 and $6.8 billion for Terns in May 2026. (Merck Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026; Merck Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 4, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

Merck & Co. gives a full-year outlook in each release. With Q3 2026 results it narrowed 2026 sales to $66.8 billion to $67.3 billion, from $66.3 billion to $67.3 billion, and raised non-GAAP EPS to $2.77 to $2.82, from $2.66 to $2.76. It also guides non-GAAP gross margin of approximately 81%, non-GAAP operating expenses of $42.4 billion to $42.9 billion, a non-GAAP tax rate of 32.0% to 33.0% and about 2.48 billion diluted shares. (Merck Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

The 2026 EPS range carries one-time charges of $3.62 per share for Cidara, $2.31 per share for Terns and $0.12 per share for SciBrunch. For comparison, Merck's 2025 non-GAAP EPS was $8.98. (Merck Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover Merck & Co., collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones Merck & Co.'s own release and filings put weight on for Q3 2026, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning MRK is on is MRK a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the MRK forecast, and what the company does is on the Merck & Co. (MRK) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document Merck & Co. published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.