Tax-loss harvesting alternatives for MRK

Among the 30 Pharmaceuticals peers screened, AZN (AstraZeneca) has tracked MRK most closely over the past year, with a return correlation of 0.52. The strongest fund stand-in is PPH (VanEck Pharma ETF) at 0.71 over the past year. Correlations are computed from daily closing-price returns aligned by trading day.

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STOCKS

Single-name peers

Ticker	Name	Sub-industry	1Y	3Y	5Y	10Y
AZN	AstraZeneca	Pharmaceuticals	0.52	0.47	0.44	0.41
GSK	GSK plc	Pharmaceuticals	0.52	0.43	0.41	0.47
PFE	Pfizer Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.52	0.43	0.37	0.47
BMY	Bristol-Myers Squibb	Pharmaceuticals	0.47	0.40	0.42	0.43
JNJ	Johnson & Johnson	Pharmaceuticals	0.46	0.41	0.43	0.50
ABBV	AbbVie Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.46	0.43	0.41	0.44
LLY	Eli Lilly	Pharmaceuticals	0.42	0.35	0.38	0.44
SNY	Sanofi S.A.	Pharmaceuticals	0.38	0.36	0.34	0.39
ALKS	Alkermes plc	Pharmaceuticals	0.30	0.25	0.23	0.25
VTRS	Viatris	Pharmaceuticals	0.29	0.29	0.26	0.29
AMRX	Amneal Pharmaceuticals	Pharmaceuticals	0.28	0.22	0.16	0.20
INVA	Innoviva, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.27	0.23	0.22	0.27
ZTS	Zoetis Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.27	0.30	0.27	0.40
COLL	Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.24	0.18	0.15	0.18
JAZZ	Jazz Pharmaceuticals	Pharmaceuticals	0.23	0.30	0.28	0.33
ELAN	Elanco	Pharmaceuticals	0.23	0.19	0.15	0.23
PRGO	Perrigo	Pharmaceuticals	0.22	0.22	0.21	0.25
PAHC	Phibro Animal Health	Pharmaceuticals	0.20	0.17	0.17	0.23
ACAD	Acadia Pharmaceuticals	Pharmaceuticals	0.20	0.14	0.12	0.13
PTCT	PTC Therapeutics, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.19	0.15	0.14	0.15
PBH	Prestige Consumer Healthcare	Pharmaceuticals	0.18	0.16	0.19	0.25
AMPH	Amphstar Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.18	0.19	0.19	0.26
PCRX	Pacira BioSciences, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.14	0.07	0.08	0.16
SUPN	Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.14	0.09	0.10	0.17
CORT	Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated	Pharmaceuticals	0.13	0.09	0.10	0.14
ANIP	ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	Pharmaceuticals	0.13	0.09	0.10	0.20
NVO	Novo Nordisk	Pharmaceuticals	0.11	0.21	0.22	0.29
INDV	Indivior	Pharmaceuticals	0.10	0.07	0.03	0.03
LQDA	Liquidia Corporation	Pharmaceuticals	0.10	0.07	0.04	0.08
OGN	Organon & Co.	Pharmaceuticals	0.04	0.17	0.18	—

ETFS

Fund stand-ins

An ETF is generally not 'substantially identical' to a single stock, which is why funds are the standard wash-sale-aware replacement.

Ticker	Name	Focus	Match	1Y	3Y	5Y	10Y
PPH	VanEck Pharma ETF	Pharmaceuticals	INDUSTRY	0.71	0.65	0.62	0.65
IYH	iShares US Healthcare ETF	Health Care Sector	SECTOR	0.68	0.62	0.56	0.64
XLV	Health Care Select Sector SPDR	Health Care Sector	SECTOR	0.68	0.62	0.57	0.65
FHLC	Fidelity MSCI Health Care ETF	Health Care Sector	SECTOR	0.67	0.60	0.54	0.62
VHT	Vanguard Health Care ETF	Health Care Sector	SECTOR	0.67	0.60	0.54	0.62
IHE	iShares US Pharmaceuticals ETF	Pharmaceuticals	INDUSTRY	0.63	0.59	0.56	0.63
IBB	iShares Biotechnology ETF	Biotechnology	INDUSTRY	0.51	0.47	0.37	0.44
XPH	SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals	Pharmaceuticals (Equal Wt)	INDUSTRY	0.38	0.41	0.38	0.47
IHI	iShares Medical Devices ETF	Medical Devices	SUB-IND	0.36	0.32	0.29	0.44
XBI	SPDR S&P Biotech ETF	Biotechnology (Equal Wt)	INDUSTRY	0.35	0.34	0.25	0.32
XHE	SPDR S&P Health Care Equipment	Medical Devices (Equal Wt)	SUB-IND	0.35	0.29	0.23	0.34
IHF	iShares Health Care Providers	Health Care Providers	INDUSTRY	0.21	0.23	0.28	0.40

NEXT STEPS

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Replacement research for MRK's peers

AZN GSK PFE BMY JNJ ABBV LLY SNY ALKS VTRS AMRX INVA ZTS COLL JAZZ ELAN PRGO PAHC ACAD PTCT PBH AMPH PCRX SUPN CORT ANIP NVO INDV LQDA OGN

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Method: Pearson correlation of daily closing-price returns, Yahoo Finance data, series aligned by trading day, refreshed weekly. A cell is blank when overlapping history covers less than 60% of its window. Correlation is descriptive, not predictive. Wash-sale treatment depends on facts and circumstances — confirm with a tax professional. Not investment advice.