Merck cut its full-year profit forecast on Tuesday after charges tied to two acquisitions weighed on its bottom line, even as the company raised its sales outlook following a stronger-than-expected second quarter.
For all of 2026, Merck said it anticipates adjusted earnings per share landing between $2.66 and $2.76, a sharp pullback from its earlier guidance of $5.04 to $5.16
The revised forecast includes a one-time charge of $2.31 per share for the acquisition of Terns Pharmaceuticals, which closed in May, plus roughly $0.12 per share to finance that deal and advance Terns’s cancer drug. It also incorporates a $3.62 per share charge from Merck’s earlier acquisition of Cidara Therapeutics. At the same time, Merck raised its full-year sales outlook to a range of $66.3 billion to $67.3 billion, up from $65.8 billion to $67 billion previously.
Merck recorded a second-quarter net loss of $1.34 billion, or $0.54 per share, swinging from net income of $4.43 billion, or $1.76 per share, a year ago. Stripping out deal-related and restructuring items, Merck’s adjusted result came to a loss of $0.13 per share. Analysts had expected an adjusted loss of $0.27 per share, according to The Wall Street Journal.