Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk reached its peak in business development due to weight loss drugs, but also became a market suspect due to weight loss drugs.
The stock price has now fallen to around the level of the beginning of the year, basically wiping out the gains brought by weight loss drugs at the beginning of the year, and has fallen by more than 40% from its high point this year.
The main reason for the decline is the increasingly fierce competition in the global weight loss drug market, as well as the supply restrictions of Novo Nordisk itself, which have reduced the market's pursuit of the company's weight loss drug business.
Novo Nordisk's financial report released earlier this month also amplified this concern, with its Chief Financial Officer Karsten Munk Knudsen admitting that next year's sales growth rate may be over ten percent, significantly lagging behind market expectations.
Barclays Bank previously stated that Novo Nordisk's outlook for 2025 has put pressure on the stock price.
Still optimistic
Once Novo Nordisk's flagship products Ozempic and Wegovy were launched, they were wildly sought after by weight loss enthusiasts, causing the company's stock price to repeatedly break new highs and become the largest company in Europe by market value. As of now, Novo Nordisk remains the largest listed company in Europe, with a market value of $358 billion.
However, due to the significant expansion of its weight loss drug production capacity by competitor Eli Lilly this year, this has had an impact on Novo Nordisk's market share.
At the same time, Trump's appointment of "anti vaccine fighter" Robert Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of Health and Human Services may also have a negative impact on weight loss drug companies. Kennedy has always been critical of weight loss drugs, and some investors believe that he will change the pricing of weight loss drugs or the coverage of medical insurance, thereby weakening the profit prospects of weight loss drugs.
But some analysts also point out that the current selling sentiment towards weight loss drugs is excessive, and Novo Nordisk still has high investment value. At present, analysts' 12-month target stock price for the stock is still close to its historical high level.
Gilles Guibout, the head of European stock strategy at AXA Investment in Paris, stated that Novo Nordisk's stock price has been hyped up too much this year, and the current significant fluctuations may be due to the behavior of hedge funds. He emphasized that Novo Nordisk's stocks are widely held and have huge market potential, so there are always more sellers than buyers, and it is also easy to form a downward trend.
In December, Novo Nordisk will release data on its latest next-generation weight loss drug CagriSema, and investors are holding their breath in anticipation.