In five pages the 2001 financial statements of Pfizer and Merck are compared in an analysis of debt equity and price earning ratios and net sales to explain the financial performance of each company. Two sources are cited in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_MTmerpfi.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
Its costly to be in the pharmaceutical industry even during the best of times - it takes many resources to bring a drug from the research and testing phase all
the way to market. But in an economic downturn, pharmaceutical companies tend to gamble a little more, with the hopes that the next drug they produce will be the one
that yield a high profit. In this paper, well compare various financial information between these two "druggernauts," as Hoovers Business Profiles terms them;
Merck & Co., Inc. and Pfizer, Inc. Well then describe some supporting reasons as to the results. Below is a chart that compares various financials between the two companies during
2001. Merck Pfizer Sales ($ millions) $47,715.7 $32,259.0 Net Income ($ millions) $7,281.8 $7,788.0 Income as % of Sales 15.26 24.14 Earnings Per Share 3.14 1.22 Stock
Price (High) 95.25 46.75 Stock Price (Low) 56.80 34.00 Stock Price (Close) 56.80 39.85 Price/Earnings (High) 30 37 Price/Earnings (Low) 18 27 Dividends Per Share 1.37 .44 Book Value Per
Share 7.06 2.91 Debt Ratio 23.02% 12.48% Return on Equity 47.16% 45.32% Debt/Equity Ratio 1.12 1.35 Long-term debt ($ mill) $4,798.6 $2,609.0 R&D as % of Sales 2500 4.847
A quick comparison of the financials shows some interesting differences between these two companies. Sales of Merck were noticeably higher than those
of Pfizer during 2002, despite the fact that Pfizer spends more on advertising and boasts more subsidiaries than rival Merck. The real figure to examine here, however, is the income
as a percentage of sales. Mercks figure is much less than that of Pfizers - meaning that more of Mercks sales money is going to other places - probably to