GLP-1 and Weight Loss Stocks in 2026: How to Invest in the Obesity Trade (Updated Weekly)
- The five layers of the obesity trade, from the two companies that sell the drugs to the ones that fill the syringes
- Live prices on the eleven names the category is searched on, refreshed weekly
- Why the market pays 37 times earnings for one drug maker and 11 times for the other
- The suppliers that get paid on volume no matter which drug wins
- The two companies everyone called GLP-1 casualties, and what their numbers actually did
- What the options market will let you do around trial readouts, and why long single options usually lose there
Obesity drugs are the largest new revenue pool medicine has produced in a generation, and the equity market has spent two years arguing about who captures it. The argument has produced some strange prices.
Two companies sell the drugs at scale. One trades near 37 times earnings and grew revenue about 48% last year. The other trades near 11 times and grew about 2%. Both make GLP-1 medicines. That gap is not a rounding error, it is a judgment about who is winning, and it is the single most important thing to understand before buying anything on this page.
So this page sorts by one question: how does this company get paid if the obesity market keeps growing, and what happens to it if a competitor wins? Prices refresh weekly. Everything else comes from the filings and carries a date.
The Five Layers of the Obesity Trade
The Two That Sell It
Approved GLP-1 medicines on the market at scale, with the manufacturing to supply them. Enormous revenue, enormous margins, and a two horse race that the market is scoring very unevenly.
LLY · NVO
The Challengers
Running trials for the next generation: oral formulations, muscle sparing combinations, better tolerability. One has no revenue at all. For the large caps this is optionality on top of an existing business.
VKTX · AMGN · PFE
Distribution
Does not make the molecule, sells access to it. Growing fast on a consumer subscription model, which is a different business with different risks from a pharmaceutical company.
HIMS
Picks and Shovels
Sells the containment and delivery hardware every injectable needs: syringes, cartridges, stoppers, fill and finish capacity. Gets paid on volume regardless of whose drug wins.
WST · STVN
The Supposed Casualties
Diabetes device makers the market sold on the theory that GLP-1 drugs shrink their addressable market. Both are still growing and both are solidly profitable.
DXCM · PODD
GLP-1 and Weight Loss Stocks: The Eleven Tickers That Carry the Category
Prices refresh automatically every week. Everything else comes from company filings and is dated.
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LLYEli LillySells it$1123.00▼ -0.11% todayMKT CAP $1.00TP/E 37.752W $712-1293◎ BEST PLAY: Covered call / debit spread · 30-45 DTEThe winner so far, and priced like it. Trailing revenue near $79.7B, up about 48%, at a 54% operating margin, on a market value near $1.0 trillion and about 37.7 times trailing earnings. Carries $54.9B of debt with the share count down about 1%. The whole case rests on that growth rate holding, because a slower Lilly does not support this multiple.
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NVONovo NordiskSells it$44.01▼ -1.23% todayMKT CAP $194.48BP/E 10.852W $35-64◎ BEST PLAY: Covered call / debit spread · 30-45 DTE
The other company selling GLP-1 medicines at scale, and the market has repriced it as a business in decline: about 10.8 times trailing earnings against Lilly's 37.7, on roughly 2% revenue growth and a 43% operating margin. It reports in Danish kroner, so dollar revenue figures you see quoted have been converted. Either the share loss is structural or the market extrapolated one bad stretch. That is the trade.
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VKTXViking TherapeuticsChallenger$32.13▼ -1.74% todayMKT CAP $3.75BP/E N/A52W $23-43◎ BEST PLAY: Defined risk only, size small · 21-30 DTE
Clinical stage with no product revenue, about $502M of cash and a market value near $3.75B, so everything it is worth depends on trial data. Share count up about 4% in a year, modest for a company funding trials from the market. Implied volatility runs hot into readouts, which is exactly why long single options tend to lose here even when the direction is right.
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AMGNAmgenChallenger$382.47▼ -2.25% todayMKT CAP $206.78BP/E 23.852W $270-447◎ BEST PLAY: Covered call / debit spread · 30-45 DTE
A large, profitable, dividend paying business with an obesity program bolted on as optionality: about $38.1B of trailing revenue at a 36% operating margin, near 23.8 times earnings, with $57.3B of debt. Obesity news will not move this stock much relative to its size, and a failed readout will not break it.
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PFEPfizerChallenger$27.65▼ -0.47% todayMKT CAP $157.60BP/E 36.452W $24-29◎ BEST PLAY: Covered call / cash-secured put · 30-45 DTE
About $63.7B of trailing revenue growing roughly 3%, at a 28% operating margin, with $63.5B of debt. The obesity program is a small part of a very large base. Best understood here as a yield and value position with a call option attached rather than as a way to own the weight loss theme.
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HIMSHims & Hers HealthDistribution$27.44▼ -1.65% todayMKT CAP $6.40BP/E N/A52W $14-65◎ BEST PLAY: Defined-risk debit spread · 21-30 DTE
Sells access rather than the molecule, on a consumer subscription: trailing revenue about $2.58B, up roughly 38%, but still a negative operating margin near -13%. Unusually for a fast growing loss maker, the share count is down about 10% year over year. The risks here are commercial and regulatory rather than clinical, and they move faster than drug approvals do.
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WSTWest PharmaceuticalPicks and shovels$344.25▲ +2.17% todayMKT CAP $24.23BP/E 44.052W $224-386◎ BEST PLAY: Covered call / debit spread · 30-45 DTE
Makes the containment and delivery hardware every injectable needs. Trailing revenue about $3.33B, up 14%, at a 22% operating margin, near 44 times earnings. Gets paid on injectable volume regardless of whose drug wins, which is the appeal. The thing that would break it is a large scale shift from injections to pills.
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STVNStevanato GroupPicks and shovels$20.95▲ +3.51% todayMKT CAP $5.72BP/E 36.852W $13-28◎ BEST PLAY: Defined-risk debit spread · 30-45 DTE
The other containment and delivery specialist: about $1.23B of trailing revenue, up 8%, at a 17% operating margin, near 37 times earnings. Same neutrality as West and the same format risk. Thinner options chain, so stock is often the better instrument here.
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DXCMDexComSupposed casualty$84.51▲ +0.75% todayMKT CAP $31.89BP/E 33.452W $54-93◎ BEST PLAY: Covered call / debit spread · 30-45 DTE
Sold off on the theory that GLP-1 drugs shrink the diabetic population and therefore the market for continuous glucose monitors. Trailing revenue is about $4.97B, up roughly 13%, at a 24% operating margin, near 33 times earnings, with the share count down about 4%. The bear case has had a couple of years to show up in the numbers and has not yet.
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PODDInsuletSupposed casualty$134.68▼ -2.35% todayMKT CAP $9.34BP/E 25.352W $126-355◎ BEST PLAY: Covered call / debit spread · 30-45 DTE
The same story with better numbers: about $3.05B of trailing revenue growing roughly 24%, at a 16% operating margin, near 25 times earnings, share count down about 2%. The fastest grower among the supposed casualties, which is worth sitting with before accepting the second order bear case at face value.
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MDGLMadrigal PharmaceuticalsAdjacent metabolic$533.12▼ -2.48% todayMKT CAP $12.32BP/E N/A52W $394-615◎ BEST PLAY: Defined risk only, small size · 21-30 DTE
Not an obesity drug: its approved medicine treats metabolic liver disease, which sits next door to this category and trades with it. Trailing revenue about $1.28B, up roughly 71%, still a negative operating margin near -15%, on a $12.3B market value. Included because it moves on the same headlines, not because it competes for the same prescription.
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The Two That Sell It, and the Gap Between Them
This is the whole page in one comparison.
| Eli Lilly (LLY) | Novo Nordisk (NVO) | |
|---|---|---|
| Trailing revenue growth | About 48% | About 2% |
| Operating margin | About 54% | About 43% |
| Trailing earnings multiple | About 37.7x | About 10.8x |
| Market value | Near $1.0 trillion | Near $194 billion |
| Debt | $54.9B | $140.1B |
| Share count | Down about 1% | Roughly flat |
Both companies sell GLP-1 medicines. Both have world class manufacturing. One is priced like a compounder and the other like a business in decline, and the difference in growth rate is why: 48% against 2%.
Lilly’s risk is different and simpler to state: at 37.7 times earnings and a trillion dollar market value, the growth rate has to hold. A 48% grower priced at 37 times is reasonable. A 20% grower priced at 37 times is not, and the market re-rates that fast.
The Challengers: Optionality, Not Revenue
Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) is the pure version: a clinical stage company with no product revenue, about $502 million of cash and a market value near $3.75 billion. Everything it is worth depends on trial data. A share count up about 4% in a year is modest for a company funding trials from the market.
Amgen (AMGN) and Pfizer (PFE) are the opposite structure. Both are large, profitable, dividend paying pharmaceutical companies where an obesity program is a call option bolted onto an existing business. Amgen turns over about $38.1 billion at a 36% operating margin; Pfizer about $63.7 billion at 28%. Neither stock will move much on obesity news relative to its size, and neither will be destroyed by a failed readout.
Distribution: Growing Fast, Not Yet Earning
Hims & Hers (HIMS) does not make the molecule. It sells access, on a consumer subscription, and it has grown quickly doing it: trailing revenue of about $2.58 billion, up roughly 38%. The operating margin is still negative at about -13%, so growth has not converted to earnings yet.
One number here is unusual for a company at this stage: the share count is down about 10% year over year. A fast growing, loss making consumer company that is buying back stock rather than issuing it is doing something most of its peers are not, and it is worth understanding why before assigning it either credit or suspicion.
The risk in this layer is not clinical, it is commercial and regulatory: pricing, supply agreements with the manufacturers, and what the rules allow to be sold and how. Those change faster than drug approvals do.
Picks and Shovels: Paid on Volume, Indifferent to the Winner
Every one of these medicines is an injectable. Injectables need cartridges, stoppers, syringes, and fill and finish capacity, and a small number of specialists supply that hardware to the whole industry.
| Ticker | Trailing revenue | Growth | Operating margin | Earnings multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WST | $3.33B | About 14% | About 22% | About 44x |
| STVN | $1.23B | About 8% | About 17% | About 37x |
Neither of these is cheap, and that is the honest caveat: the market has already worked out that they are the neutral way to own the theme. What they offer instead is that they do not require you to pick between Lilly and Novo, and they do not depend on a trial reading out. If total injectable volume rises, they get paid.
The Two Everyone Called Casualties
When GLP-1 drugs took off, the market sold diabetes device makers on a straightforward theory: if these medicines reduce the diabetic population, they shrink the market for continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps. Here is what those two companies actually did.
| Ticker | Trailing revenue | Growth | Operating margin | Earnings multiple | Share count |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DXCM | $4.97B | About 13% | About 24% | About 33x | Down about 4% |
| PODD | $3.05B | About 24% | About 16% | About 25x | Down about 2% |
Both grew. Both are solidly profitable. Both are buying back stock. The bear case has now had a couple of years to show up in the numbers and has not, which does not mean it is wrong forever, but does mean it is a thesis about the future rather than a description of the present.
This is worth generalizing. The second order losers from a big theme are often mispriced in both directions, and the way to check is not to argue about the theory but to read what the revenue line did while everyone was arguing.
What the Options Market Will Actually Let You Do Here
| Tier | Names | What is realistic |
|---|---|---|
| Deep | LLY, NVO, PFE, AMGN, HIMS | Weeklies and monthlies with usable spreads. Covered calls against stock, defined risk debit spreads, calendars around earnings |
| Workable | VKTX, DXCM, PODD, WST | Monthly expiries. Limit orders, and expect a real spread cost on the far strikes |
| Thin | STVN, MDGL | Chains exist but the spread is a meaningful part of the trade. Stock is often the better instrument |
The sector specific hazard is the scheduled catalyst. Trial readouts, regulatory decisions and earnings all produce the same pattern: implied volatility climbs into the date and collapses immediately after. Owning a long single option through one of those is a bet that the move beats the premium you paid, which is a much harder bet than being right about direction. Spreads and calendars exist precisely for this.
The other thing to respect here is headline risk that is not on any calendar. A competitor’s trial result, a pricing announcement or a supply agreement can move every name on this page in the same hour, including the ones the news was not about.
Three Questions Before Any GLP-1 Position
1. Am I buying the category or picking a winner? The category is growing regardless. Layer 4 lets you own that growth without choosing. Layer 1 requires you to have an actual view on whether Lilly keeps taking share or Novo re-rates, and those two views produce opposite trades.
2. Is there a scheduled catalyst inside my expiry? If yes, you are trading volatility as much as direction, and you should structure for that. If no, the position is a slower fundamental bet and the options premium is a smaller part of the outcome.
3. What happens to this position if an oral version wins? The drug makers are largely fine. Distribution is fine. The containment and delivery suppliers are not, because their revenue is tied to the injection rather than the molecule. That is a real fork, and it belongs in the sizing rather than in the hope.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best GLP-1 and weight loss stocks to buy?
We do not publish buy calls. The more useful question is which layer of the trade you want. Two companies sell the drugs at scale, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, and the market prices them completely differently at about 37.7 and 10.8 times trailing earnings. If you would rather not pick between them, the containment and delivery suppliers, West Pharmaceutical and Stevanato, get paid on injectable volume regardless of which drug wins.
Why is Novo Nordisk stock so cheap compared to Eli Lilly?
Growth. Lilly grew trailing revenue about 48 percent, Novo about 2 percent, and the market has priced that difference as a structural share loss rather than a temporary one. That leaves Novo near 10.8 times trailing earnings against Lilly near 37.7. Either the share loss is permanent, in which case the low multiple is fair, or the market extrapolated one bad stretch too far. Buying Novo is a bet on the second reading, and it is a relative trade between two companies rather than a bet on the category.
What is the Ozempic stock symbol?
Ozempic and Wegovy are made by Novo Nordisk, which trades in the United States as an American depositary receipt under NVO. Mounjaro and Zepbound are made by Eli Lilly, ticker LLY. There is no ticker for an individual drug, so exposure to a specific medicine means owning the company that sells it, alongside everything else that company does.
Which stocks benefit from GLP-1 drugs without picking a winner?
The containment and delivery suppliers. Every one of these medicines is an injectable, and injectables need cartridges, stoppers, syringes and fill and finish capacity. West Pharmaceutical turns over about 3.33 billion dollars at a 22 percent operating margin and Stevanato about 1.23 billion at 17 percent. Neither is cheap, because the market has already worked this out, but neither requires you to have a view on Lilly versus Novo.
Are DexCom and Insulet hurt by weight loss drugs?
Not so far, on the numbers. The theory was that GLP-1 medicines shrink the diabetic population and therefore the market for glucose monitors and insulin pumps. Since then DexCom has grown trailing revenue about 13 percent at a 24 percent operating margin and Insulet about 24 percent at 16 percent, and both have reduced their share counts. That does not make the bear case wrong forever, but it does make it a claim about the future rather than a description of what has happened.
Is Viking Therapeutics a good way to play obesity drugs?
It is the highest risk way. Viking is clinical stage with no product revenue, about 502 million dollars of cash and a market value near 3.75 billion, so its value depends entirely on trial data. The specific hazard is that implied volatility climbs into a scheduled readout and collapses the moment the result is public. You can be right about the direction of the move and still lose money on a long option, which is why spreads are the more common structure here.
What would break the picks and shovels trade?
An oral GLP-1 that works as well as an injection. Several are in development. A large scale move from injections to pills would leave the drug makers fine and cut straight through the companies that supply cartridges, stoppers and fill and finish capacity, because their revenue is tied to the format rather than to the molecule. That makes West and Stevanato a bet on injectables continuing, not simply a bet on obesity treatment growing.
Do weight loss stocks all move together?
More than people expect. A competitor's trial result, a pricing announcement or a supply agreement can move every name in this category in the same hour, including the ones the news was not about. That matters for position sizing: three GLP-1 positions are closer to one large position than to three independent ones, and they will not diversify each other on the day it counts.
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