PREVIEW: Merck shares up; Q3 rev seen rising, EPS seen falling
** Shares in Merck & Co MRK.N up 0.7% on Wednesday ahead of quarterly report due out before market open on Thursday
** Wall St sees the biopharmaceutical co reporting Q3 adj EPS of $1.50 vs $2.13 in year-ago quarter on rev of $16.46 bln, which would be up 3% Y/Y, according to the latest data from LSEG
** In last 8 quarters, MRK's adj EPS and rev beat Wall St consensus estimates every time
** In July Merck said Q2 shipments of Gardasil vaccine, which prevents cancer caused by the human papillomavirus, declined in key market China. Gardasil is a top growth driver aside from cancer immunotherapy Keytruda - the world's top-selling prescription medicine
** MRK last traded at $104.44 vs median PT of $137, according to LSEG, which shows 29 analyst ratings: 7 'strong buy,' 18 'buy' and 4 'hold' ratings
** YTD shares in MRK down ~4% vs ~8% gain for S&P 500 healthcare index .SPXHC and a roughly 12% gain for the Dow .DJI in the same time frame
** MRK options imply a 4.5% swing for the shares, in either direction by Friday, per Trade Alert data; that is higher the stock's avg move of 3.3% on the day of results over the last eight qtrs
(Reporting By Sinéad Carew, Saqib Iqbal Ahmed)
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