Novo Crushes Forecasts As Sales Of Weight-Loss Drug Rocket Eightfold

The stock of Novo Nordisk rose sharply on Thursday, after the company announced a dramatic increase in sales for its weight-loss drug Wegovy. However, sales of Ozempic, a diabetes giant were disappointing.

Wegovy's sales in the third quarter of this year grew by more than eight times, or 734%, at today's rates. FactSet reported that this easily beat the $1.09 billion expectations. Ozempics sales rose 46%, to $3.31 billion. However, they missed expectations of $3.44 billion.

But despite this, Novo CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen was still optimistic about the company's work in diabetes and related diseases. Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic. Recent studies have shown that a weekly dose semaglutide can be effective in treating chronic renal disease in type 2 diabetics. Novo Nordisk halted the study due to its unexpectedly rapid effectiveness.

In a written announcement, he stated that he was "very satisfied" with the growth of sales in the first nine-months of 2023. This shows that more people are now benefiting from the innovative treatments for diabetes and obesity.

Novo Nordisk's stock rose 3.8% in morning trading on the stock market today, near 101.40.

Novo Nordisk Stock: Earnings Pop

Sales rose 29%, to $8.37 billion. This was well above the forecast of $8.17 billion. The adjusted earnings per share came in at 72 cents, which was higher than the expectations of 66 cents. The earnings increased by 57% over the past year.

Revenue from Novo Nordisk’s rare diseases business grew by 24%, to $556.2 millions.

The drugmaker has reiterated that it expects to grow sales by 32% to 38% and operating profits to increase by 40% to 46% in constant currency.

The stock of Novo Nordisk has an IBD Digital score of 97, which is based on the performance of a stock over a 12-month period.