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German science and technology company selling life-science lab tools (MilliporeSigma), specialty pharmaceuticals and electronic materials for chipmaking.
German science and technology company selling life-science lab tools (MilliporeSigma), specialty pharmaceuticals and electronic materials for chipmaking.
Life Science, selling lab supplies and the filters and media drugmakers need to make biologic drugs, is the biggest part, with recurring consumables rather than machines. Healthcare and electronic materials are the other two. The Merck family keeps control through a holding company. It bought Sigma-Aldrich in 2015 and Versum Materials in 2019.
In one line: Owns MilliporeSigma; unrelated to US-listed Merck & Co.
Moat: narrow (switching costs, IP / patents, customer qualification). Lab reagents/bioprocessing tools are validated into customer workflows, and electronic materials require fab qualification.
Headquarters: Darmstadt, Germany · Founded: 1668 · Employees: 62,461
Size Merck KGaA (MRK.DE) is a Germany Health Care company (Pharmaceuticals: Major) with a market value of $72.5B, the 8th largest of 205 Germany companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at €148.75 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 23.2%, against +15.8% for the median peer and +2.6% for the Germany market (cap-weighted) — 9th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue fell 0.4% over the last twelve months (peer median +11.2%); the operating margin is 19.7% (peer median 24.0%).
Valuation It trades at 17.5× forward earnings against a peer median of 17.5× (11th cheapest of 21).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 8% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +4%, so the hurdle is +4 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 0.6 points above its cost of capital (6.5% WACC).
Credit Merck KGaA has 9 bonds outstanding ($6.61B), rated A by the agencies and trading like AAA at a weighted spread of 65 bp.
Next results Next results expected around 12 Nov 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | €21.1B | €21.1B | €21.2B | €21.0B | €22.2B |
| Revenue growth | — | 0% | +1% | -6% | — |
| Gross profit | €12.4B | €11.9B | €11.9B | €11.7B | €12.8B |
| EBITDA | €6.59B | €5.95B | €6.17B | €5.83B | €6.79B |
| Net income | €2.37B | €2.61B | €2.78B | €2.82B | €3.33B |
| Free cash flow | €2.73B | €2.35B | €2.88B | €1.98B | €2.73B |
| Capital expenditure | €4.15B | €3.56B | €4.43B | €4.52B | €2.88B |
| Total debt | €12.3B | €12.0B | €10.3B | €9.94B | €10.4B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merck KGaA MRK.DE | $72.5B | +23% | 0% | 20% | 17.5× | 7.7% |
| Thermo Fisher Scientific TMO | $257B | +50% | +8% | 19% | 25.8× | 20.9% |
| Danaher DHR | $162B | +35% | +6% | 21% | 25.3× | 20.5% |
| Bayer BAYN.DE | $61.2B | +46% | -2% | 14% | 12.3× | 2.1% |
| Shin-etsu Chemical 4063.T | $66.5B | -27% | +5% | 25% | 17.2× | 8.9% |
| Sartorius SRT.DE | $20.0B | +34% | +4% | 18% | 42.6× | 24.9% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | MRK.DE | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +9.6% | +10.0% | 11th highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +23.2% | +15.8% | 9th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -2.2% | -9.3% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | -0.4% | +11.2% | 2nd lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 19.7% | 24.0% | 9th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 17.5× | 17.5× | 11th cheapest of 21 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 7.7% | 5.3% | 9th most demanding of 21 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +3.8% | +6.7% | 9th lowest of 21 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +3.9 pp | -5.2 pp | 7th most demanding of 21 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +0.6 pp | +5.5 pp | 4th lowest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 11.4× | 13.3× | 8th cheapest of 19 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.6× | 1.5× | 10th least indebted of 19 |
| Bond spread | 65 bp | 80 bp | 2nd tightest of 13 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Merck KGaA MRK.DE | Germany | $72.5B | +23% | 0% | 20% | 17.5× | 7.7% | +3.8% |
| Chugai Pharmaceutical 4519.T | Japan | $71.0B | -15% | +17% | 50% | 22.1× | 3.6% | +9.8% |
| WuXi AppTec 603259.SS | China | $67.0B | +34% | +32% | 43% | 18.1× | 7.8% | +22.3% |
| Takeda Pharmaceutical 4502.T | Japan | $66.4B | +24% | +6% | 18% | 42.1× | 3.0% | +7.1% |
| Bayer BAYN.DE | Germany | $61.2B | +46% | -2% | 14% | 12.3× | 2.1% | +1.9% |
| Regeneron Pharmaceuticals REGN | United States | $93.5B | +27% | +19% | 30% | 11.3× | -2.2% | +11.0% |
| Galderma GALD.SW | Switzerland | $54.8B | +17% | +16% | 19% | 48.1× | 18.4% | +6.4% |
| GSK GSK.L | United Kingdom | $102B | 0% | +4% | 25% | 10.6× | -0.1% | -0.9% |
| Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals 600276.SS | China | $49.7B | -6% | +6% | 27% | 36.4× | 14.9% | +2.7% |
| Sun Pharmaceutical Industries SUNPHARMA.NS | India | $47.3B | +1% | +12% | 23% | 35.4× | 28.4% | +11.7% |
| Sanofi SAN.PA | France | $113B | +14% | +15% | 27% | 9.6× | -5.4% | +3.9% |
| BeOne Medicines 688235.SS | China | $45.8B | +19% | +28% | 15% | 74.5× | 23.3% | +79.3% |
| Sandoz SDZ.SW | Switzerland | $44.4B | +24% | +1% | 15% | 25.3× | 7.9% | +0.4% |
| Bristol Myers Squibb BMY | United States | $127B | +12% | +4% | 33% | 9.7× | -12.9% | +2.5% |
| Haleon HLN.L | United Kingdom | $40.1B | +1% | +1% | 23% | 16.3× | 4.6% | +2.2% |
| Royalty Pharma RPRX | United States | $38.8B | +33% | +11% | 66% | 11.3× | 9.9% | +2.3% |
| Otsuka Hldgs 4578.T | Japan | $38.6B | +2% | +11% | 18% | 16.3× | 0.4% | +11.7% |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals VRTX | United States | $139B | +27% | +11% | 35% | 29.0× | 6.1% | +14.2% |
| Biogen BIIB | United States | $36.7B | +28% | +2% | 17% | 16.8× | 9.4% | -5.1% |
| Zoetis ZTS | United States | $32.8B | -4% | +1% | 38% | 12.8× | -4.3% | +7.2% |
| Daiichi Sankyo 4568.T | Japan | $31.9B | +7% | +17% | 13% | 18.6× | 7.2% | +17.1% |
Merck KGaA has 9 bonds outstanding with $6.61B face value. The agencies rate it A; its bonds trade like AAA. Weighted yield 3.70%, a spread of 65 bp over government bonds.