Novo Nordisk Stock Rises on Earnings Beat, Narrowed Outlook

Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) U.S.-listed shares rose Wednesday morning as it reported better third-quarter profits than expected, though sales of its drugs including popular weight-loss treatments Ozempic and Wegovy grew less than expected.

The Danish drugmaker reported 71.31 billion Danish krone ($10.24 billion) in sales—a 21% jump from the same time last year—but still just below the DKK 72.17 billion ($10.36 billion) analysts had expected, according to estimates compiled by Visible Alpha. Despite the sales miss, Novo Nordisk’s net income of DKK 27.3 billion came in higher than the DKK 26.66 billion analysts were expecting.

Sales of the company’s obesity and diabetes drugs jumped 25% from the same time last year, while sales in North America surged 31% in the quarter. The company has faced questions from U.S. lawmakers about why its products are so much more expensive in the U.S. than European countries.

Full-Year Outlook Narrowed at Top and Bottom Ends

“The sales growth is driven by increasing demand for our GLP-1-based diabetes and obesity treatments, and we are serving more patients than ever before,” Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said.

The company also narrowed its full-year guidance, projecting sales growth between 23% to 27%, with both the high and low end slightly narrower than the 22% to 28% projected growth previously. The same adjustment was made to operating profit projections, as Novo Nordisk now expects the metric to grow 21% to 27% year-over-year, compared to the previous range of 20% to 28%.

Novo Nordisk’s U.S.-traded shares rose 2.6% in premarket trading Wednesday to $113.