RAHWAY, N.J. (AP) — RAHWAY, N.J. (AP) — Merck & Co. (MRK) on Thursday reported first-quarter earnings of $4.76 billion.

On a per-share basis, the Rahway, New Jersey-based company said it had profit of $1.87. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were $2.07 per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.94 per share.

The pharmaceutical company posted revenue of $15.78 billion in the period, which also beat Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $15.32 billion.

Merck expects full-year earnings in the range of $8.53 to $8.65 per share, with revenue in the range of $63.1 billion to $64.3 billion.

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