Novo Nordisk’s CFO has spent the last few days on the phone trying to reassure investors that the GLP-leader hasn’t lost a step. The market isn’t buying it.
Novo’s shares have fallen 15% this year, tumbling further this week after guidance missed analysts’ targets. Meanwhile, rival Eli Lilly surged 5% on another blowout report. “It’s for the analysts to set their own expectations and build their own models,” CFO Karsten Munk Knudsen told Semafor when asked what he needed to do to sell the street on his rosier narrative.
Novo was first to market with GLP-1s and briefly became Europe’s most-valuable company on its early success. Novo CEO Mike Doustdar marks his one-year anniversary this week, replacing a predecessor who was ousted for, well, fumbling that crown to Eli Lilly, which became the first pharma company ever to hit a $1 trillion market cap on the back of its Ozempic competitors.
Novo has cut 15% of its workforce and launched a weight-loss pill it claims 90% market share. Investors looking for reasons to get excited at Novo’s capital-markets day next month may be disappointed; Knudsen says to expect “refinements” in strategy, not dramatic shifts.