Mixed Earnings Expectations For Merck And Pfizer

• Pharmaceutical giants Merck & Co., Inc. MRK and Pfizer Inc. PFE are expected to post quarterly results this week.
• Analysts are looking for different top and bottom line results from each.
• A few other pharmaceutical and biotech companies are on deck this week as well.

Two of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, both Down Jones Industrial Average components, will be stepping into the earnings spotlight this week, and as it turns out, the views of Wall Street analysts are mixed on what to expect.

Consensus Expectations Ahead Of Earnings Releases

The consensus forecasts see a marginal rise in earnings from Merck relative to the same period of last year, but not from Pfizer. On the other hand, the maker of Viagra is expected to show a rise in revenues, while the maker of Singulair is not.

Below is a quick look at what is expected from the reports of these two stocks. That is followed by a quick peek at some of the week's other most anticipated pharmaceutical and biotech earnings.

Related Link: Johnson & Johnson Kicks Off Health Care Earnings—What About Deals, Buybacks?

Merck

When this Gardasil and Singulair maker shares its results early Tuesday, the consensus forecast from Estimize calls for a profit of $0.92 per share for the fourth quarter. That would be up from earnings per share (EPS) of $0.87 in the same period of last year. Earnings handily topped expectations in the past few quarters.

Revenue for the three months that ended in December will be $10.45 billion, or marginally lower year over year, if the 15 survey respondents are correct. Wall Street analysts are looking for just $10.37 billion for the quarter, as well as $39.60 billion (down more than 6 percent) for the year.

Pfizer

Wall Street's fourth-quarter forecast for the maker of Lipitor and Viagra calls for EPS to have ticked down from $0.54 in the year ago period to $0.52. Some 41 Estimize respondents predict EPS will be the same as a year ago. Note that both Wall Street and Estimize underestimated EPS in the past two quarters.

Revenue also topped consensus estimates in the past two periods. This time, Estimize is looking for about $13.61 billion, a bit higher than the $13.57 billion Wall Street expects. Both estimates are up more than 3 percent year over year. The company is scheduled to report before Wednesday's opening bell.

And Others

Other pharmaceutical and biotech companies that Wall Street analysts expect to show earnings growth when they report this week include AmerisourceBergen, Baxter International, Gilead Sciences and Myriad Genetics.

On the other hand, Illumina and Mallinckrodt are anticipated to say that their earnings have declined, relative to a year ago, if the consensus forecasts are accurate.