Why Novo Nordisk Stock Slipped Today

Key Points

• It was a double miss for the Wegovy maker in its second quarter.

• It's been hammered not only by competing licensed drugs, but it also has to contend with copycats.

• 10 stocks we like better than Novo Nordisk ›

Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) stock imitated the company's leading product on Wednesday by slimming down in price. The Danish pharmaceutical's shares lost nearly 4% of their value following its latest earnings release, comparing unfavorably to the modest (0.7%) gain of the S&P 500 index.

Still growing, but...

Novo Nordisk, famous for its Wegovy obesity drug (and its sibling, diabetes treatment Ozempic), unveiled its first half and second quarter of 2025 figures early Wednesday morning.

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Image source: Getty Images.

For the quarter, the company booked 76.9 billion Danish kroner ($11.9 billion) in revenue, which was up only marginally on a sequential basis, and 13% higher compared to the same period of 2024. Net income, meanwhile, was down from the previous quarter but up from the year-ago quarter. It rose by 32% year over year to 26.5 billion kroner ($4.1 billion), or 5.96 kroner ($0.92) per share.

Both headline numbers missed the consensus analyst estimates, although not by much. Pundits tracking the company were modeling the equivalent of just under $12 billion for revenue, and $0.95 per share on the bottom line.

Although Novo Nordisk continues to post double-digit increases thanks largely to Wegovy and Ozempic, it has been in the investor doghouse so far this month. That's because at the end of July, it significantly cut its guidance for both total sales and operating profit.

Withering competition

Much of this has to do with the intense competition Novo Nordisk is facing due to the runaway success of those medications.

These days, pharmacy sector powerhouse Eli Lilly is doing brisk business with a directly competing product, Zepbound, while third parties are copying Wegovy's semaglutide molecule for their own compounded products. The company announced no fewer than 14 new lawsuits on Tuesday, making a total of 146 across 40 U.S. states, to combat the latter.

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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.