Global pharmaceutical company Merck (NYSE: MRK) will be reporting earnings this Thursday morning. Here’s what you need to know.

Merck missed analysts’ revenue expectations by 1.1% last quarter, reporting revenues of $15.81 billion, down 1.9% year on year. It was a strong quarter for the company, with a solid beat of analysts’ constant currency revenue estimates and a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates.

Is Merck a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.

This quarter, analysts are expecting Merck’s revenue to grow 2% year on year to $17 billion, slowing from the 4.4% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $2.35 per share.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Merck has only missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates once over the last two years, exceeding top-line expectations by 1.5% on average.

With Merck being the first among its peers to report earnings this season, we don’t have anywhere else to look to get a hint at how this quarter will unravel for pharmaceuticals stocks. However, there has been positive investor sentiment in the segment, with share prices up 6.1% on average over the last month. Merck is up 10.8% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $101.84 (compared to the current share price of $87.10).

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