3 Companies That Raised Their Guidance Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic
The U.S. economy is coming off an abysmal second quarter that saw GDP contract by 32.9%. This decline was no surprise given the widespread problems the COVID-19 pandemic is causing for businesses. Many companies are either cutting back on their forecasts for the year or are simply no longer making projections of how they'll do given the uncertainty ahead. But not all companies are worried.
The three companies listed below are optimistic about the future and recently increased their projections for the year. Doing well during the pandemic's no easy feat, and that makes these companies attractive investments to add to your portfolio today.
In Merck & Co.'s (NYSE: MRK) second-quarter results, released July 31, worldwide sales were down 8% year over year, largely because the COVID-19 pandemic has led patients to make fewer visits to doctors' offices. That said, revenue from its cancer-fighting drug Keytruda rose by 29%. The New Jersey-based company's results were good enough to beat analyst expectations for Q2, as adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.37 were well above Wall Street estimates of $1.04. Revenue of $10.9 billion was also better than analyst forecasts of $10.4 billion.
Source Fool.com
