Novo Nordisk shares slide after guidance disappoints investors
Novo Nordisk raised its financial outlook as it tries to catch up with rival Eli Lilly in the booming GLP-1 market.
Astrong
Novo Nordisk CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar waits for the start of the pharmaceutical company’s annual general meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, March 26, 2026.
Tom Little | Reuters
U.S.-traded shares of Novo Nordisk dropped more than 5% on Tuesday after the Danish drugmaker released guidance that appeared to disappoint investors.
The company hiked its 2026 outlook, saying it expects adjusted sales to be down 6% to flat at constant exchange rates. Novo Nordisk previously said it anticipated adjusted sales would fall between 4% and 12%.
The drugmaker also said it expects adjusted operating profit to be in a range of down 6% to flat. It had previously anticipated that metric would drop between 4% and 12%, as well.
Notably, Novo also said it expects a sales decline in U.S. operations, citing current prescription trends for GLP-1 injections, "intensifying" competition and a negative impact from reduced obesity medicine coverage in Medicaid. The company also cited lower realized prices in the U.S., in part due to the landmark "most favored nation" drug pricing agreement it struck with President Donald Trump for its GLP-1s.
Novo Nordisk also announced key financial metrics for the second quarter and first half of 2026, ahead of an expected earnings release on Wednesday. Eli Lilly, its lead rival in the booming market for GLP-1 drugs, is also scheduled to post quarterly results on Wednesday.
The Danish drugmaker said second-quarter sales rose to 78.49 billion kroner ($12.09 billion), up 3% in constant currency. On an adjusted basis, sales climbed 7% during the period.
Novo said its newly launched pill version of its Wegovy weight loss drug raked in 3.22 billion kroner for the second quarter. That's slightly below the 3.27 billion kroner that analysts were expecting for the period, according to StreetAccount.
The pill has now topped 5 million prescriptions since its launch in January, CEO Mike Doustdar said in a statement Tuesday.
"We think the lack of upside for Wegovy pill vs. models has stock down," Jared Holz, Mizuho Securities healthcare sector specialist, said in an email to clients. "But in totality this is an improvement from earlier in the year in terms of trajectory."
Meanwhile, adjusted operating profit rose 11% in constant currency to 33.39 billion kroner.
Those rollouts of the pill and a higher-dose version of the Wegovy injection have helped Novo Nordisk regain its footing in the GLP-1 market after Eli Lilly established a market share lead on the strength of its Zepbound and Mounjaro injections.
