We recently published a list of the 10 Most Profitable European Stocks to Invest In. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) stands against the other profitable European stocks.

How Could Trump’s Trade Tariffs Impact Europe?

After the U.S. Presidential elections, the global economies might face trade tariff tribulation as the Trump administration is expected to accelerate the trade war. China and Europe are especially expecting Trump’s potential trade policies that can heat the trade war. In addition, the rising perturbation around Germany’s upcoming snap election is a sign of worry for investors. Since the US elections, European stocks have retreated, outflows have increased, and the euro has slid against the U.S. dollar.

According to the European Central Bank’s chief economist, Philip Lane, if global trade feels more of a burden, the global economic output would suffer a sizable loss. “Trade fragmentation entails sizeable output losses,” said Lane, during a speech in Amsterdam. Lane anticipates a potential hit on the global output at between 2%, in case of partial trade restrictions, and almost 10% if a full ban is imposed.

Furthermore, the leading banks including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Citi have pointed out the euro as one of the most vulnerable currencies to Trump’s tariff agenda. Considering the region’s manufacturing exports and dependence on China, Europe could be exposed to trade tariff consequences.

READ ALSO: Jim Cramer’s Latest Lightning Round: 11 Stocks to Watch and Jim Cramer on AMD and Other Stocks.

The United Kingdom’s inflation rate fell noticeably to 1.7% in September, just below the ECB’s 2% target for the first time since April 2021. On November 7, the Bank of England announced the rate cut by 25 basis points, bringing its key rate to 4.75%. The U.K.’s central bank has cut rates by a combined 75 basis points to 3.25% in 2024 so far. Investors expect the central bank to further cut rates during the next meeting in December.

Europe’s stock market has some interesting stocks that investors would want to keep in their portfolios to avoid too much concentration on U.S. assets. The pan-European STOXX Europe 600 has plunged nearly 2% since the U.S. elections, however, the index is up 11% over the last year, as of November 23.

With that, let’s take a look at how profitable Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:) has been over the years.

Our Methodology

To compile our list of the 10 most profitable European stocks to invest in, we scanned European stocks through Finviz Screener using two indicators. We shortlisted the stocks with a minimum net income of $1 billion or more in the trailing twelve months (TTM) and with a 5-year net income compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 15%. From that list, we narrowed our choices to the 10 stocks that analysts see the most upside to. The list is ranked in ascending order of analysts’ average upside potential, as of November 22.

Why do we care about what hedge funds do? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO)

Upside Potential: 44.04%

5-Year Net Income CAGR: 19.59%

TTM Net Income: $13.32 Billion 

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) is a Danish healthcare company engaged in diabetes care. The company mainly specializes in diabetes care and other chronic diseases. Novo Nordisk’s main focus remains on insulin products for diabetes treatment. However, the company is also focused on growing its market share and enhancing its product offering, especially in the treatment of diabetes and obesity.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) is successfully managing the supply and demand following the introduction of its weight-loss drug, Wegovy, into foreign markets. The company continues to improve its share in the diabetes industry as it has already surpassed its target of obtaining one-third of the market by 2025. Currently, NVO holds a 33.9% market share in the global diabetes industry.

In the first nine months of 2024, the company has achieved 24% sales growth and 22% operating profit growth from a year ago. The company’s sales are mainly driven by the rise in demand for its GLP-1-based diabetic and obesity medicines. The GLP-1 treatments cover 3x more patients compared to three years ago and have over 43 million patients being treated from the medication.

Artisan Partners stated the following regarding Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) in its “Artisan Global Equity Fund” Q1 2024 investor letter:

“In addition, shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) rose after it reported phase 1 clinical trial results for its new experimental obesity drug Amycretin, a single molecule that operates as a GLP-1 receptor agonist, reducing one’s appetite. The new oral treatment achieved a 13.1% average weight loss after 12 weeks, more than doubling the efficacy of Wegovy for the same period. This result also bested Lilly’s Orfoglipron, another experimental drug that achieved 5%–6% average weight loss earlier in its trials. While the Amycretin data are preliminary, investors were encouraged by the prospects of Novo Nordisk solidifying a best-in-class obesity designation, a desirable status given rising competition. In our view, Novo Nordisk has the best obesity/Type 2 diabetes pipeline in the industry, which should help protect this franchise from competition over the next 10 years.”

Overall, NVO ranks 1st on our list of the most profitable European stocks to invest in. While we acknowledge the potential of NVO as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NVO but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.