Okay babes, Novo just had a moment and I have thoughts — let’s talk about it. 💅
Novo Nordisk (NVO) has been, to put it mildly, in her flop era for the past couple of years. But its third-quarter results were strong enough to send the stock up 6% post-earnings. Great news for shareholders — but can Novo actually keep the momentum going? That’s the real question, and it’s the one I want to help you answer like an investor, not a bystander.
Here’s the thing about reading earnings reports: the headline numbers don’t always tell the full story, and this quarter is a perfect example.
The numbers look shaky at first glance — look closer
Some of Novo’s longtime stars underperformed. Sales of Ozempic, the famous diabetes medicine, came in at 29.7 billion Danish kroner (about $4.5 billion), down 3% year over year. Wegovy, the injectable weight-loss medicine everyone’s heard of, recorded 20.4 billion DKK (about $3.1 billion), roughly flat.
If you stopped there, you’d think the party was over. But several other medicines picked up the slack — and honestly, none mattered more than oral Wegovy, the first weight loss pill ever approved, launched in January. This is the one I keep bringing up to my coaching clients, because it’s a masterclass in how companies innovate around customer friction: tons of people were hesitant to start treatment with injectables, so Novo met them where they are. By June, oral Wegovy had surpassed three million prescriptions, and more than 80% went to patients who had never taken a GLP-1 before. In Q3 alone, the pill generated 5.4 billion DKK (about $810 million) in revenue.
Think about that like a subscription business acquiring brand-new customers who never would’ve signed up for the original product. That’s expansion, not just replacement — and expansion is what you want to see in a growth story.
The bigger picture
Novo’s total net sales were 79.2 billion DKK (about $11.9 billion), up 6% year over year. Net income dropped 16% to 16.7 billion DKK (about $2.5 billion), largely due to non-cash impairment charges — meaning the decline wasn’t from money actually leaving the building, but from accounting write-downs. Still, results beat analyst estimates, and Novo raised its fiscal 2026 guidance: it now expects revenue to be flat at the midpoint, versus prior guidance implying a 3% drop. A beat-and-raise quarter is exactly why shares jumped.
Here’s what I’d tell anyone eyeing this stock: don’t fixate on one quarter. Focus on whether the company has multiple ways to win from here. Novo does. Let me walk you through the three catalysts.
Catalyst #1: Oral Wegovy is just getting started
The pill has been approved in several other countries, including Germany and the U.K. Those markets might not be as lucrative as the U.S., but they’ll still move the needle — and they’ll bring in brand-new GLP-1 patients in those regions. Novo is also pursuing label expansions: it has submitted an FDA application for oral Wegovy as a potential treatment for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH, a serious liver condition). The injectable is already approved for that indication, and the pill offers a more convenient option. More indications = more addressable patients = more revenue. It’s the investing equivalent of a wardrobe staple that works for multiple occasions. 👏
Catalyst #2: CagriSema could steal market share
Novo is inching closer to approval for CagriSema, a medicine that beat Wegovy in a head-to-head Phase 3 trial for weight loss and posted strong results in diabetes too. This is Novo’s shot at taking market share from its biggest competitor, Eli Lilly (LLY). Competition keeps everyone honest, and a company with a genuinely competitive next-gen product is far better positioned than one coasting on yesterday’s winner.
Catalyst #3: A pipeline that keeps giving
Novo’s Phase 3 pipeline features zenagamtide, a promising diabetes and weight-loss medicine being developed in both injectable and oral forms. The weight-loss market is growing rapidly, and this product — along with others — could help Novo ride that tailwind for a long time, even as competition intensifies.
My take, as your money bestie
Will Novo hit zero setbacks from here? Probably not — clinical setbacks happen, and this is pharma. But after the beating this stock took over the past two years, it’s slowly staging a comeback, and following this quarter, I find the stock attractive. This is also why I tell my coaching clients: individual stocks are one ingredient in your portfolio, not the whole recipe. If a name like NVO excites you, size the position so one company’s ups and downs can’t wreck your peace. Wealth building should feel empowering, not anxiety-inducing. ✨
The lesson here isn’t really about Novo — it’s about learning to look past scary headlines, understand why a business is winning or struggling, and make decisions based on fundamentals instead of vibes. That skill will serve you with every stock you ever consider.
If this breakdown made you feel even a little more confident reading an earnings report, imagine what we could do together every week. DM me your biggest investing question, or join my mailing list so you never miss a stock story worth your money — and let’s get you investing smarter, in style. 💛
