Novo Nordisk A/S

NOVO-B.CO

Drug Manufacturers - General · Healthcare

Price

kr 329.90

-5.90 (-1.76%)

Market Cap

kr 1.47T

Exchange

NASDAQ Copenhagen

Winston Score

Winston is curious

A decent business — some strong pillars, some weaker.

Share count falling — buybacks

−3.4% over 4y

The company has reduced its share count over this period, returning value to shareholders through buybacks.

Diluted shares outstanding: 4.61B (2021) → 4.45B (2025)

Novo Nordisk is a Danish pharmaceutical company that makes medicines for people with diabetes and obesity. Its most well-known products are insulin treatments and the GLP-1 drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, which are used by millions of patients worldwide to manage blood sugar and body weight. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world by market value and dominates the global market for GLP-1 medications.

The company earns money by selling prescription drugs to patients through hospitals, pharmacies, and healthcare systems across more than 170 countries. Its extremely high gross margin reflects strong pricing power and the difficulty competitors face in replicating its manufacturing scale and decades of diabetes research. The biggest growth driver is surging global demand for obesity treatments, but the main risk is that rivals like Eli Lilly are investing heavily to compete in the same GLP-1 drug market, which could pressure Novo Nordisk's market share and pricing over time.

Winston Score History

Growth Profile

For growth stock investors

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+24.0% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Steady revenue growth

EPS Growth

+67.1% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

EPS growth accelerating

R&D Spend

$52.0B/ year

↑ Rising (+8% vs prior year)

16.8% of revenue

In line with sector average (18%)

Investing heavily in future products and technology

Insider Activity

28.3%ownership

Insiders own a meaningful stake in the company

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

$23.9B cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Heavy R&D investment

Novo Nordisk A/S is putting 17% of revenue into R&D and that number is rising. And they're generating enough cash to self-fund it.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

Every number that matters to educated investors.

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Quality

Gross Margin

86.0%

Premium pricing power — 86.0% gross margin

Operating Margin

61.6%

Excellent — 61.6% operating margin

ROCE

17.1%

Strong — 17.1% return on capital

ROIC between 15% and 25%. Every dollar invested in the business earns 15 to 25 cents back per year.

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Growth

Sales YoY

+8.1%

Steady sales growth (8.1% YoY)

EPS YoY

+16.7%

Earnings growing fast (16.7% YoY)

Healthy double-digit earnings growth — what compounders look like.

EPS Consistency

4/8 quarters

Earnings inconsistent quarter-to-quarter

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Cash Flow

Cash Conversion

97%

Turns 97% of profit into real cash

FCF Margin

9.5%

Modest free cash flow (9.5%)

FCF margin between 0% and 10%. Some cash from sales, but not a lot.

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Stability

Debt / Equity

0.72

Moderate — manageable debt (0.72)

Interest Cover

29.15x

Comfortably covers interest (29.1x)

Interest coverage above 8. Profits cover interest many times over.

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Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)

12.0x

Attractive valuation — P/E 12.0

P/E in the normal range. Price is roughly $15 for every $1 of yearly profit.

P/E vs Forward

-2.0

SLOWING

Earnings expected to fall — forward P/E higher than today

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Dividends

Dividend Yield

3.61%

Moderate income — 3.61% yield

Standard yield zone for stable dividend payers. A meaningful piece of total return.

Dividend Growth

-6.9%

Dividend cut (-6.9% YoY) — warning sign

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