UBS maintains its 'buy' rating on Merck KGaA shares with a target price maintained at €180, representing 56% upside potential, following the German healthcare and chemicals group's quarterly results.
Merck's Q1 results were broadly in line with expectations, although the downward revision of the 2025 EBITDA forecast was a slight disappointment, the broker says, which has reduced its 2025-29 EPS estimates by 1.5% on average.
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Merck KGaA is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical and chemical groups. Net sales break down by family of products as follows:
- solutions and products for scientific and biotechnological research (42.1%);
- pharmaceutical products (40%): prescription drugs for the treatment of diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, infertility, cardiovascular disease, central nervous system disorders, inflammatory disorders, etc.;
- performance materials for the electronics industry (17.9%): semiconductor materials, liquid crystals, pigments and additives, carbon-based organic materials, etc.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Germany (4.7%), Switzerland (1.9%), Europe (22.6%), the United States (25.7%), North America (1.3%), China (13.5%), Asia/Pacific (19.6%), Latin America (7%), Middle East and Africa (3.7%).
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