Novo Nordisk A/S earnings: third quarter 2026

Novo Nordisk sold 79.2 billion Danish kroner of medicines in the third quarter of 2026, 4% more than a year earlier once currency swings are removed. The new Wegovy pill for obesity drove the rise while its older diabetes drugs slipped. Profit per share still fell, and the company raised what it expects for sales, profit and cash this year. ¹

Against what analysts expected

Analysts on average expected earnings per share of $0.81 for the quarter, according to Nasdaq's earnings calendar. ¹²

The strong points

• Obesity medicines carried the quarter: their sales rose 22% at constant exchange rates, with the new Wegovy pill alone bringing in about 5.4 billion kroner. ¹
• On the company's adjusted figures, what is left of each krone of sales after the direct cost of making the medicines rose to 82.1%, from 76.1% a year earlier. ¹
• Free cash flow, the cash left after running the business and investing in it, reached 83.8 billion kroner over nine months, up from 71.1 billion. ¹

The weak points

• The company's adjusted earnings per share, which leave out write-downs, fell 12% to 5.79 kroner. ¹
• Novo expects its US sales to fall this year as prices drop, and it says the US list-price cuts it plans from January 2027 will weigh on next year's cash. ¹

What the company expects

• Novo raised its 2026 forecast: it now expects sales growth of between -2% and +2% at constant exchange rates, up from -6% to 0%, and it raised its forecast for operating profit, the profit from running the business before interest and tax, by the same amount. ¹
• Novo raised its 2026 free cash flow forecast to 60–70 billion kroner, from 45–55 billion. ¹

Our verdict on the quarter

A very strong report. Novo raised its forecasts for this year's sales, operating profit and cash, and the quarter showed sales and operating profit growing on wider margins, though higher financing costs meant profit per share fell 12%.

The results as published

• The results release itself
• The filing it came with (SEC)
• The previous results, for what it forecast then

Notes

1. Novo Nordisk A/S's results release, 4 November 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 4 November 2026. ↩