Mighty Merck

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) hails to us from the prestigious Dow Jones 30 and remains one of the nation's largest pharmaceuticals companies.  Merck will now get a little larger with the upcoming acquisition of Schering-Plough Corporation (NYSE:SGP) for $41 billion. Merck has a dividend yield of about 5% with Return on Equity of about 28%.  The projected earnings growth for the next 5 years is only 1.1%, which is pretty low and likely due to it being such a well established company.  The P/E ratio is just 9, not bad, but I just can’t get over that dividend…  5%!  Just something to think about if you are looking for a long-term stock that likely will provide moderate appreciation in price over the years.