Merck & Co. reported higher sales but lower profit for the third quarter of 2026 in results released on 29 October. The US company, based in Rahway, New Jersey, is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada; this report is not about Germany’s Merck KGaA.
Worldwide sales reached $18.085 billion, up 5% from a year earlier. Reported net income attributable to Merck & Co. fell 12% to $5.065 billion. The company’s non-GAAP net income, which excludes specified items, declined 4% to $6.159 billion.
The quarterly figures, on matching bases
The unaudited figures below cover the third quarter, not the nine-month year-to-date period. Amounts are US dollars; percentage changes are the issuer’s rounded year-on-year comparisons. Official evidence observed 29 October 2026 at 19:06 UTC.
| Measure | Q3 2026 | Q3 2025 | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worldwide sales | $18.085 billion; up 5% | $17.276 billion | Financial summary, page 2 |
| Reported net income attributable to Merck & Co. | $5.065 billion; down 12% | $5.785 billion | Financial summary, page 2 |
| Non-GAAP net income attributable to Merck & Co. | $6.159 billion; down 4% | $6.448 billion | Reconciliation, page 6 |
| Diluted EPS: reported / non-GAAP | $2.04 / $2.49 | $2.32 / $2.58 | EPS reconciliation, page 6 |
Why sales and profit moved apart
Sales measure the business’s revenue before its expenses. Net income measures the profit left after costs and taxes, while earnings per share, or EPS, expresses shareholder earnings on a per-share basis.
Merck attributed the fall in reported EPS primarily to higher operating expenses, intangible-asset amortization, net interest expense and restructuring costs. A lower effective tax rate partly offset those pressures. Those are the company’s explanations, not evidence of a stock-market reaction.
Non-GAAP does not mean every one-time cost is removed
GAAP refers to generally accepted accounting principles. Merck’s non-GAAP figures are supplementary company measures that exclude specified acquisition- and divestiture-related costs, restructuring costs, and investment gains or losses.
The quarter’s net-income reconciliation moves from $5.065 billion reported to $6.159 billion non-GAAP: a $1.094 billion difference after tax. The EPS difference is $0.45. These alternative figures should be read alongside, not instead of, the reported accounts.
Importantly, both reported EPS of $2.04 and non-GAAP EPS of $2.49 include a one-time $0.12-per-share charge related to the SciBrunch global licence agreement. It would therefore be misleading to describe the non-GAAP number as removing all one-time charges.
The practical question for the next results is whether sales growth translates into stronger profitability on a consistently defined basis. This report does not establish an analyst-expectations beat, a share-price move or a future profit outcome, and makes no medical-efficacy claims.
Primary evidence: Merck & Co.’s 29 October results announcement and its linked PDF. These are two formats of the same issuer release, not independent corroboration.
Primary source record
- Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J., USA — observed 2026-10-29T19:05:32Z.
- Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J., USA — observed 2026-10-29T19:06:03Z.
Recorded source observation: . This is a source-check timestamp, not a market quote or a new article update.