Merck & Company is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. The following data were taken from the company's 2008 report.

	Fiscal Years Ending
	December 31, 2008	December 31, 2007
Net earnings (in millions)	$ 3,275.4	$ 4,433.8
Earnings per share	$ 1.51	$ 2.04

The following data were taken from public stock-price quotes.

Stock price per share on March 3, 2008	$ 44.06
(Two months after the end of Merck's 2007 fiscal year.)
Stock price per share on March 1, 2007	$ 43.99
(Two months after the end of Merck's 2007 fiscal year.)

Requirement 1:

Compute Merck's price-earnings ratio for March 3, 2008, and March 1, 2007. (Round your answers to 2 decimal places.)

Year	Price earnings ratio
2008	times
2007	times

Requirement 2:

Did the financial markets appear to be more optimistic about Merck's future performance on March 1, 2007, or March 1, 2008?

(Click to select)Less optimisticMore optimistic

Requirement 3:

Based on the information provided, estimate approximately how many shares of stock Merck had outstanding as of December 31, 2007. (Round your answer to 2 decimal places. Omit the "$" sign in your response.)

Outstanding share

$ billion

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