Novo Nordisk: UBS downgrades to 'neutral'

(CercleFinance.com) - UBS has downgraded the shares of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk from "buy" to "neutral," following the share price's 20% increase since late March.


Novo's growth story is fully intact, but indications in NASH and obesity are not "straight forward catalysts," UBS warned in a note.

While first-quarter performance suggests that Novo is set to deliver premium growth due to structural volume growth on the diabetes/metabolic diseases market, the upside has become "more limited" near term now that investors have seen the first NASH data for its semaglutide drug.

The analyst also expressed caution in estimates, given the potential double-counting of GLP-1 diabetes drug use in obesity.

UBS maintains its target oprice of 425 Danish kronor for the stock.

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