Novo Nordisk shares up despite missing analysts' expectations

Danish diabetes care giant Novo Nordisk (NOV: N) this morning posted financial results that came in below expectations, but still saw the firm’s share climb 4.29% to 317.25 Danish kroner by mid-morning, boosted by a revised 2019 outlook and forecast-beating sales of its new once-weekly GLP-1 drug Ozempic (semaglutide).

Net profit for the fourth quarter of 2018 rose 3% to 8.50 billion kroner ($1.31 billion) compared to a year earlier, missing the 8.90 billion forecast by analysts in a FactSet poll. Sales rose 6.2% to 29.73 billion kroner against analysts' expectations of 29.77 billion kroner.

Full-year 2018 sales remained broadly unchanged in Danish kroner and increased by 5% in local currencies to 111.8 billion kroner.