Tencent Securities News Beijing time on the evening of July 28, according to the U. S. financial website MarketWatch reported that the United States Merck released its results before the U. S. stock market on Friday.

Merck's second-quarter net profit rose to $1.95 billion, or 71 cents a share, compared with $1.21 billion and 43 cents per share in the same period last year, according to the report. Excluding some one-time items, adjusted earnings per share for the quarter were $1.01, exceeding the average forecast of 87 cents by analysts surveyed by FactSet, a financial information provider. Revenue rose 1% in the quarter from a year earlier to $9.93 billion from $9.84 billion in the same period last year, also exceeding the average analyst estimate of $9.75 billion.

Among Merck's best-selling drugs, Januvia/Janumet 's revenue fell 8% year-on-year to $1.51 billion, falling short of analysts' average expectations of $1.62 billion, while Keytruda's revenue nearly tripled to $881 million, exceeding analysts' average expectations of $787.5 million.

For the whole of 2017, Merck confirmed its previously adjusted earnings per share forecast of between $3.76 and $3.88, but raised its revenue forecast to $39.4 billion to $40.4 billion from $39.1 billion to $40.3 billion.

"driven by the strong momentum of KEYTRUDA Pharmaceuticals and good progress in other drug portfolios under development, we continued to deliver strong results in the second quarter." Said Kenneth Fraser, the company's chief executive.

Merck's shares rose about 1% in U.S. stock market trading after the announcement, and are up 8.2% so far this year, compared with exchange trading that tracks medical stocks.FundSPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF is up 15.4% over the same period, while the s & p 500 is up 10.6%. (nebula)