How long before MRK's bubble bursts?

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Anonymous

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Merck reps have nothing on Wall Street when it comes to playing make believe. How else can the price of MRK be justified when revenues continue to fall? Well done Mr. Frazier for masterfully playing the most important make believe game at MRK!
 




Anonymous said:
Merck reps have nothing on Wall Street when it comes to playing make believe. How else can the price of MRK be justified when revenues continue to fall? Well done Mr. Frazier for masterfully playing the most important make believe game at MRK!
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Your insignificant rear end doesn't need to concern yourself with what is or what isn't. You are not long for this company so don't worry about things you can't fathom.
 




Mr F. told the Wall Street goons on the side, off mike, about all the upcoming layoffs, thereby decreasing expenses more than the decrease seen in revenue...BINGO! Stock price goes up! Merck is not going away, just growing smaller in this age of forced generic substitution. He's no dummy, been around the block a few times, ya know?
 




Anonymous said:
Merck reps have nothing on Wall Street when it comes to playing make believe. How else can the price of MRK be justified when revenues continue to fall? Well done Mr. Frazier for masterfully playing the most important make believe game at MRK!
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From The Wall Street Journal today:

"Merck has relied on cost-cutting and buybacks to deliver growth in earnings per share. But such levers can be pulled for only so long."
 












Anonymous said:
From The Wall Street Journal today:

"Merck has relied on cost-cutting and buybacks to deliver growth in earnings per share. But such levers can be pulled for only so long."
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Frazier cant save his way to a profit. He can only grow Merck by selling more of it's goods and services. Which he (nor anyone else for that matter) cant do.
 




Pay no attention to MRK's declining revenues. Pay no attention to the pipeline. As long as Kenny can keep the Street happy, all is well at MRK. Let's close out April tomorrow with MRK above $60! Lead on Kenny.
 








Anonymous said:
We all have 3-5 years left-max
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I have a neighbor who's a Drug Rep. She's in her early forty's. Pharma is all she's ever done/knows, she's been in it for twenty years. She has two kids, single mom etc. I know her from my job as well as being her neighbor, because she calls on the office where I work.

She understands just how screwed she really is. She says so herself. She says she does not know what's going to happen to her and her kids. She doesn't work for Merck now, but she used to. She was laid off quite some time ago, but re-surfaced with the company she's with today. She told me that was "The worst mistake I've made. I should never have stayed in Pharma, but the golden handcuffs worked their magic on me and here I am."

I know the above about her because a long time ago, I had a conversation with her about me getting a job as a Rep. I'm sure you can figure out what her advice to me was regarding that idea.
 




Anonymous said:
I have a neighbor who's a Drug Rep. She's in her early forty's. Pharma is all she's ever done/knows, she's been in it for twenty years. She has two kids, single mom etc. I know her from my job as well as being her neighbor, because she calls on the office where I work.

She understands just how screwed she really is. She says so herself. She says she does not know what's going to happen to her and her kids. She doesn't work for Merck now, but she used to. She was laid off quite some time ago, but re-surfaced with the company she's with today. She told me that was "The worst mistake I've made. I should never have stayed in Pharma, but the golden handcuffs worked their magic on me and here I am."

I know the above about her because a long time ago, I had a conversation with her about me getting a job as a Rep. I'm sure you can figure out what her advice to me was regarding that idea.
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I posted the above and I thought I'd add just a little more, but not about my neighbor.

I see many drug reps every week. (I don't interact with them like a few of the doctors do, rather by "seeing" them I mean I observe them in the office.) Most are young, not middle aged like my neighbor. There was once a nice man who I thought was in his mid-fifty's who called on our office. His drug was Lipitor, but I never see him anymore. I asked another younger man who was friendly with the guy with Lipitor what happened to him. "Oh Bill! He left his company" the young man said. "They laid him off. Probably because of his age."

Most of the reps I speak with are nice. They all bring us lunch, and are well dressed. I know they have good salaries and have newer company cars. Sometimes their boss is with them. They really don't get to talk to the doctors as much as they talk to the staff. Their jobs sure looks like the kind of job I would like to have, but many of them have told me not to bother. Many of them say they are looking for another job. That's the one thing most of them have in common! They all are looking to leave!! Crazy, huh?
 




The cost-cutting options are running out for this sham profitability picture. In five years, the Merck name will be a footnote following a large-scale merger. I don't think it survives.
 




Merck's bubble will not burst. Merck will continue to develop, manufacture and distribute healthcare products. Big pharma's traditional marketing model bubble will burst and I believe it is coming soon. The primary change will be in the eventual elimination of in-house field sales reps and managers.

If you are in field sales/management and you disagree please feel free respond. CP is packed with negative doomsday posts and I would love to hear from those who have an opposing opinion. Please plead your case. Convince us that your position has purpose and that your jobs will endure. If Senior Management gave you the opportunity to sell them on why your job should be maintained, what would you say? They may be ready this post right now, so here is your chance. Make it count.
 




From an article on Market Watch today:

(Ken Frazier: There's a message for you in the second paragraph.)

"Merck stock has gone nowhere in the last seven years, up only 4.65% since 2008 and much of that is attributable to the stock's dividend. Back in 2008, Merck's earnings were $3.00. Today they are earning $3.37 per share. What happens when a stock doesn't grow its earnings? It underperforms the market. Merck's estimated annual earnings-growth rate is expected to be only 5%. Compare that to Apple's estimated annual growth rate of more than 13%.

Admittedly, it is tougher to discover new blockbuster drugs than to come up with new consumer products, but over the years, Merck had opportunities to grow through investment and acquisitions. Company management did not follow that path, and Merck has had little success growing their earnings.....
 








Anonymous said:
Merck's bubble will not burst. Merck will continue to develop, manufacture and distribute healthcare products. Big pharma's traditional marketing model bubble will burst and I believe it is coming soon. The primary change will be in the eventual elimination of in-house field sales reps and managers.

If you are in field sales/management and you disagree please feel free respond. CP is packed with negative doomsday posts and I would love to hear from those who have an opposing opinion. Please plead your case. Convince us that your position has purpose and that your jobs will endure. If Senior Management gave you the opportunity to sell them on why your job should be maintained, what would you say? They may be ready this post right now, so here is your chance. Make it count.
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Have a look at the pipeline, Genius. Patents expire. Our pipeline already has.

Will the last one out the door please turn out the lights?
 








Anonymous said:
Merck's bubble will not burst. Merck will continue to develop, manufacture and distribute healthcare products. Big pharma's traditional marketing model bubble will burst and I believe it is coming soon. The primary change will be in the eventual elimination of in-house field sales reps and managers.

If you are in field sales/management and you disagree please feel free respond. CP is packed with negative doomsday posts and I would love to hear from those who have an opposing opinion. Please plead your case. Convince us that your position has purpose and that your jobs will endure. If Senior Management gave you the opportunity to sell them on why your job should be maintained, what would you say? They may be ready this post right now, so here is your chance. Make it count.
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Don't know if you intentionally talked down to us, but I'm sure it is why you haven't received any replies. That and the fact that we all know pleading our case in an anonymous forum here is not worth the time. It is absolutely toxic here, not at all representative of the typical Merck rep. That said, we all know the bubble has burst/is in the process of bursting, but a face is always needed in front of customers if sales are expected. Are all the faces that currently exist needed? Probably not, especially in the current environment for branded medications. So, rather than plead for my job, as you clearly want to see happen, I would just say that upper management should do it's best to weed out the undesirables (the 15x15 ers and their ilk) who do nothing to generate/increase sales and support those that are productive. Problem is, they get dazzled by all the nonsense and "look at me" stuff that is constantly held up by managers and miss the heads-down good reps with good relationships. They also rely on performance metrics that do nothing to support actual performance. The sales force is largely discouraged and dis-incented from working all that hard. Payoff isn't there. Some new blood once in a while would be good too. And most importantly, if you want reps doing their jobs instead of jumping through hoops, just get rid of the CTL. Their day has passed. No reason a DCO can't take on their functions with an annual field visit or two instead of monthly milkruns.
 




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