Astrazeneca plc (AZN) is slightly undervalued and Merck & Co Inc (MRK) is overvalued.
Against our estimates of intrinsic value, AZN trades at the wider discount: a margin of safety of +7%, against -205% for MRK.
Values as of the 22 Sept 2026 close.
Discounting its cash flows at 7.4% (average of 3 methods) values the shares at $180.20; the price of $168.37 is 7% below that value, and 82% of that value comes from beyond year five.
Leak Score 59/100 on 3 of 12 signals
Discounting its cash flows at 7.1% (average of 3 methods) values the shares at $49.49; the price of $150.91 is 205% above that value, and 82% of that value comes from beyond year five.
Leak Score 40/100 on 9 of 12 signals
| Metric | AZN | MRK |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Slightly undervalued | Overvalued |
| Price | $168.37 | $150.91 |
| Intrinsic value | $180.20 | $49.49 |
| Margin of safety | +7% | -205% |
| Leak Score | 59/100 (3/12) | 40/100 (9/12) |
| Market cap | $261.1B | $372.3B |
| Revenue growth, 5 years | 16.3% | 9.3% |
| Operating margin | 22.4% | 18.8% |
| Net margin | 17.0% | 4.8% |
| Return on equity | 22.0% | 7.0% |
| Debt to equity | 0.64 | 1.29 |
| P/E | 25.2x | 120.6x |
| Forward P/E | 14.6x | 15.8x |
| P/B | 5.2x | 8.9x |
| Dividend yield | 2.0% | 2.3% |