Merck is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. It has a host of products under its portfolio and a wide network throughout the world to market them. The company has built tremendous scale as it is seventh largest pharmaceutical company in the world by market cap. Merck is known for some of its vaccine products and the importance of vaccines is poised to go up in the post-pandemic world. The segment in which the company operates as well as its scale makes it a strong long-term prospect.

The 10-year monthly chart of Merck shows a consistent uptrend that its stock has been in for the better part of the past decade. The uptrend was halted in January of 2020 and the stock fell about 20% for the first three months of 2020. However, in April, the stock bounced back up from an important zone which was formed by an intermediate trendline as well as a historic support level at 72. The stock has retraced about 8.3% since then and looks poised to test the 92 level last touched in December 2019. A stop loss can be placed somewhere below the 72 support level.