4-Star Stocks Poised to Pop: Merck

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Based on the aggregated intelligence of 140,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, drug behemoth Merck (NYSE: MRK) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Merck's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Merck facts

Headquarters (Founded)	Whitehouse Station, N.J. (1891)
Market Cap	$107.9 billion
Industry	Pharmaceuticals
Trailing-12-Month Revenue	$23.37 billion
Management	Chairman/CEO Richard Clark (since 2005) CFO Peter Kellogg (since 2007)
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years)	29.1%
Cash / Debt	$22.26 billion / $9.07 billion
Dividend Yield	4.3%
Competitors	Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) sanofi-aventis (NYSE: SNY)
CAPS Members Bullish on MRK Also Bullish on	General Electric (NYSE: GE)
CAPS Members Bearish on MRK Also Bearish on	Ford Motor (NYSE: F) Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO)

Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's) and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 92.8% of the 2,488 members who have rated Merck believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include All-Star Boredkid, who is ranked in the top 15% of our community, and jcn2u.

Late last month, Boredkid assured Fools that Merck won't be expiring anytime soon: "Low P/E, high dividend yield. Expect patent-losses affect on bottom line to be offset by acquisitions and partnerships; also, expect Wall Street to be overly pessimistic about patent expirations."

In a pitch from four days later, jcn2u applauds the recent megamerger:

They bought [Schering-Plough] on the cheap. [Schering] has the pipeline and management that [Merck] needed. [Merck] has the deep pockets to carry through with the drugs in the pipeline, [Schering] did not. Now the question is: Does [Merck] have the fortitude to do what has to be done with their own management? We shall see. IF done correctly, [Merck] has the raw materials to become THE dominate drug company that they were many years ago.

What do you think about Merck, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. The CAPS community is waiting to hear your opinions. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!