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LLast week, Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk announced that its first quarter earnings beat estimates, raised its growth outlook for the rest of 2022 and expanded its buyback program, reports Reuters.
Novo Nordisk’s first-quarter operating profit was 19 billion Danish kroner (about $2.69 billion), well above the estimated 17 billion Danish kroner. The company also raised its sales estimate by 10% to 14% in local currency, a gain from previous estimates of 6% to 10% for the rest of the year, with production estimates also rising.
“We are very pleased with the sales growth in the first three months of 2022, which is driven by growing demand for our GLP-1-based therapies,” CEO Lars Jorgensen said in a statement, referring to the company’s new diabetes and obesity range. medications.
The company also announced that it would extend its buyback program by an additional 2 billion Danish kroner to a total of 24 billion kroner.
New obesity drug Wegovy is expected to help drive some of this growth as commercial production resumes after being halted in December; the drug is expected to be fully available in the United States in the second half of 2022 and is highly anticipated.
Another lead drug, Ozempic, used to treat diabetes, has contributed to recent growth, accounting for 12 billion in local currency sales in the first quarter, a growth of 70%. Demand is so great that the company has factored in some supply constraints in its latest estimates, which shouldn’t impact the growth of the business as a whole.
“We’ve seen some (supply issues), but none of them are material to Novo Nordisk,” Jorgensen told reporters on a call.
Investing in Novo Nordisk with HART
the IQ Healthy Hearts ETF (HART) aims to provide exposure to companies that diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease, companies that have an above average involvement in healthy food and wellness products, companies that offer solutions for people looking to get in shape fitness and exercise regularly, and to companies that provide health education resources through IT services.
The fund seeks to track the IQ Candriam Healthy Hearts Index and invests across market capitalizations, US and emerging markets. It excludes certain countries, including China. Companies are selected thematically based on heart health-related revenue and/or impact on heart health goals set by the fund. The index also uses an exclusion filter for companies that do not comply with the United Nations Global Compact or engage in certain activities such as animal testing, nuclear exposure and gambling. Companies that operate in countries with oppressive regimes are also excluded.
Novo Nordisk is one of the fund’s top three holdings with a weighting of 5.6%.
HART has an expense ratio of 0.45% and currently invests in 80 companies.
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