Novo Nordisk Stock Falls Despite Strong Q3 Weight-Loss Drug Sales: Retail Shrugs Off Weakness

Danish diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk A/S ($NVO), which shot to prominence with its Wegovy weight-loss drug, reported Wednesday strong sales and earnings growth for the third quarter.

Novo Nordisk reported third-quarter net profit 27.30 billion Danish Kroner ($3.92 billion), up 21% year-over-year (Y-o-Y), as sales also rose by a similar magnitude to 71.31 billion Danish Kroner (DKK). 

The top-line, however, came in below the 72.3 billion DKK-consensus estimate, according to Reuters, amid softer-than-expected diabetes drug sales.

Wegovy sales jumped 79% YoY to 17.30 DKK ($2.5 billion), ahead of the 15.9 billion DKK forecast by analysts.

Wegovy is a once-weekly injectable formulation of Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug semaglutide, marketed as Ozempic. It was approved by the FDA in 2021 for chronic weight management in adults with obesity or overweight with at least one weight-related condition such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or high cholesterol.

Novo Nordisk’s diabetes franchise fetched sales of 47.94 billion DKK, up 13% YoY.

Looking ahead, the company said it expects 2024 sales to rise at a currency-neutral rate of 23-27%, and operating profit to grow by 21%-27%.

The company is now evaluating a two-drug combo treatment candidate by the name CagriSema, for obesity, and a late-stage readout for the drug is expected later this year.

As of 10:53 am ET, the stock fell 1.91% to $108.03.

Retail sentiment toward Novo Nordisk stock was 'bullish' (72/100), with message volume rising to ‘extremely high’ level.

A retailer said on the Stocktwits platform that he was buying the dip.

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