Stock Takes: Ozempic is fattening this company’s value

Weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy are manufactured by Danish company Novo Nordisk. Photo / Getty Images

Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk became Europe’s most valuable company this week as investors lusted over earnings from popular weight-loss drugs.

The manufacturer of Ozempic and Wegovy has seen its share price rise 67 per cent in the past 12 months to DKK$1310.80 (NZ$320.76).

Its total market value reached US$424.7 billion last week, bumping luxury fashion group LVMH from the top valuation spot, according to Reuters and Refinitiv data.

Eli Lily, a United States company that makes the so-called obesity injection Mounjaro, has witnessed a share price rise of 81 per cent in the past year.

If the three drugs proved successful with few side-effects and no long-term risks for users, Fisher Funds portfolio manager Sam Dickie puts their potential market value in the trillions.

“To be clear, we have never seen a potential or implied drug class of this size,” he said on the Herald’s Stock Takes podcast.

“Take those two companies alone, they’re approaching US$1 trillion of market cap.”

Listen to Dickie discuss the opportunity for Novo Nordisk and the results from New Zealand’s reporting season in the season final episode of Stock Takes.

Stock Takes is available on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you with support from Fisher Funds.