Critical Analysis: Clever Leaves (NASDAQ:CLVR) & Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) and Clever Leaves (NASDAQ:CLVR) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Merck & Co., Inc. and Clever Leaves’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Merck & Co., Inc.	19.23%	36.42%	13.68%
Clever Leaves	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk and Volatility

Merck & Co., Inc. has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Clever Leaves has a beta of 2.08, indicating that its stock price is 108% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

76.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 6.9% of Clever Leaves shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Merck & Co., Inc. shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.2% of Clever Leaves shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Merck & Co., Inc. and Clever Leaves”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Merck & Co., Inc.	$60.12 billion	4.28	$365.00 million	$4.77	21.31
Clever Leaves	$17.42 million	0.10	-$17.90 million	($11.31)	-0.09

Merck & Co., Inc. has higher revenue and earnings than Clever Leaves. Clever Leaves is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Merck & Co., Inc., indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Merck & Co., Inc. and Clever Leaves, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Merck & Co., Inc.	1	6	10	2	2.68
Clever Leaves	0	0	0	0	0.00

Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus price target of $130.86, indicating a potential upside of 28.72%. Given Merck & Co., Inc.’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Merck & Co., Inc. is more favorable than Clever Leaves.

Summary

Merck & Co., Inc. beats Clever Leaves on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co., Inc. operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes under the Keytruda, Bridion, Adempas, Lagevrio, Belsomra, Simponi, and Januvia brands, as well as vaccine products consisting of preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines under the Gardasil/Gardasil 9, ProQuad, M-M-R II, Varivax, RotaTeq, Live Oral, Vaxneuvance, Pneumovax 23, and Vaqta names. The Animal Health segment discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and health management solutions and services, as well as digitally connected identification, traceability, and monitoring products. The company serves drug wholesalers and retailers, hospitals, and government agencies; managed health care providers, such as health maintenance organizations, pharmacy benefit managers, and other institutions; and physicians, wholesalers, government entities, veterinarians, distributors, animal producers, farmers, and pet owners. It has development and commercialization agreement for three of Daiichi Sankyo's deruxtecan ADC candidates, which include patritumab deruxtecan, ifinatamab deruxtecan, and raludotatug deruxtecan for the treatment of multiple solid tumors both as monotherapy and/or in combination with other treatments; and AstraZeneca PLC to co-development and co-commercialize AstraZeneca's Lynparza products for multiple cancer types, and Koselugo for multiple indications. The company also has a collaboration agreement with Eisai Co., Ltd., Bayer AG, and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP, as well Moderna, Inc. Merck & Co., Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey.

About Clever Leaves

Clever Leaves Holdings Inc. operates in the botanical cannabinoid and nutraceutical industries. The company operates through two segments, Cannabinoid and Non-Cannabinoid. The Cannabinoid segment cultivates, extracts, manufactures, commercializes, and distributes cannabinoid products comprising cannabis flowers, cannabidiol isolates, full spectrum and standardized extracts, and dry smokable flowers internationally. The Non-Cannabinoid segment formulates, manufactures, markets, sells, distributes, and commercializes nutraceutical and other natural remedies, wellness products, detoxification products, and nutritional and dietary supplements for mass retailers, specialty and health retailers, and distributors in the United States. It also produces extracted products, including isolates, crude oil extracts, and oral solutions; and tetrahydrocannabinol flowers. The company serves retail distributors, pharmaceutical and cannabis companies, and pharmacies. Clever Leaves Holdings Inc. was founded in 2017 and is based in Tocancipá, Colombia.