Sifting through countless of stocks in the Pharmaceuticals industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Novo Nordisk A/S or Novartis AG because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Novo Nordisk A/S and Novartis AG compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Novo Nordisk A/S and Novartis AG

Novo Nordisk A/S, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research and development, manufacture, and distribution of pharmaceutical products. It operates through two segments, Obesity and Diabetes Care, and Rare Disease. The Obesity and Diabetes care segment provides products for diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular, and other emerging therapy areas. The Rare Disease segment offers products in the areas of rare blood disorders, rare endocrine disorders, and hormone replacement therapy. The company also provides NovoPen 6 and NovoPen Echo Plus, smart insulin pens; Dose Check, an insulin dose guidance application; growth hormone pens and injection needles; and Wegovy pill an oral glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist therapy for weight management. It operates in Europe, Canada, the United States, Japan, Korea, Oceania, Southeast Asia, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. Novo Nordisk A/S was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in Bagsvaerd, Denmark.

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, distributes, markets, and sells pharmaceutical medicines in Switzerland and internationally. The company offers Entresto, an angiotensin receptorneprilysin inhibitor to treat symptomatic chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF); Cosentyx to treat plaque psoriasis, pso riatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and nonradiographic axial spondy loarthritis; Kisqali, a selective oral cyclin dependent inhibitor of kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6); Promacta/Revolade to treat immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), thrombocytopenia, and patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA); Tafinlar+Mekinist, an oral combination therapy to treat patients with certain types of cancers; and Jakavi for the treatment of myelofibrosis, polycythemia vera, and acute or chronic graftversushost disease (GvHD). It also provides Tasigna to treat philadelphia chromosomepositive chronic myeloid leukemia in the chronic and/or accelerated phase; Xolair for the treatment of allergic asthma and nasal polyps or severe chronic rhinosi nusitis with nasal polyps; Ilaris to treat fever syndromes, Still’s disease, and acute gouty arthritis; Pluvicto to treat prostatespecific membrane anti genpositive metastatic castrationresistant prostate cancer; Sandostatin SC and Sandostatin LAR to treat acromegaly carcinoid tumors and other types of functional gastro intestinal and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors; Zolgensma for the treatment of genetic root cause of spinal muscular atrophy; Lucentis; Leqvio to reduce LDL cholesterol; Lutathera; Scemblix; and Fabhalta. The company focuses on therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, oncology, and hematology. It has a license and collaboration agreement with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop, manufacture, and commercialize Leqvio (inclisiran), a therapy to reduce LDL cholesterol. Novartis AG was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.

Latest Pharmaceuticals and Novo Nordisk A/S, Novartis AG Stock News

As of September 1, 2026, Novo Nordisk A/S had a $201.6 billion market capitalization, compared to the Pharmaceuticals median of $654.2 million. Novo Nordisk A/S’s stock is down 11.3% in 2026, down 4.4% in the previous five trading days and down 20.09% in the past year.

Currently, Novo Nordisk A/S’s price-earnings ratio is 11.3. Novo Nordisk A/S’s trailing 12-month revenue is $50.3 billion with a 35.3% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was -0.9%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $3.581 per share for the current fiscal year. Novo Nordisk A/S currently has a 2.6% dividend yield.

As of September 1, 2026, Novartis AG had a $306.8 billion market cap, putting it in the 99th percentile of all stocks. Novartis AG’s stock is up 17% in 2026, up 2.4% in the previous five trading days and up 27.42% in the past year.

Currently, Novartis AG’s price-earnings ratio is 24.4. Novartis AG’s trailing 12-month revenue is $56.7 billion with a 22.5% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 0.8%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $8.803 per share for the current fiscal year. Novartis AG currently has a 2.9% dividend yield.

How We Compare Novo Nordisk A/S and Novartis AG Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Novo Nordisk A/S and Novartis AG’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Novo Nordisk A/S and Novartis AG Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Novo Nordisk A/S	NVO	A
Novartis AG	NVS	C

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Novo Nordisk A/S has a Growth Score of 89, which is Very Strong. Novartis AG has a Growth Score of 56, which is Average.

The Growth Grade Winner: Novo Nordisk A/S

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, Novo Nordisk A/S has a more attractive growth grade than Novartis AG. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, Novo Nordisk A/S could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Novo Nordisk A/S and Novartis AG’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Novo Nordisk A/S	NVO	D
Novartis AG	NVS	B

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Novo Nordisk A/S has a Momentum Score of 32, which is Weak. Novartis AG has a Momentum Score of 69, which is Strong.

The Momentum Grade Winner: Novartis AG

As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, Novartis AG is considered to have stronger momentum compared to Novo Nordisk A/S. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, Novartis AG could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Novo Nordisk A/S and Novartis AG’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Novo Nordisk A/S	NVO	B
Novartis AG	NVS	C

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Novo Nordisk A/S has a Earnings Estimate Score of 67, which is Positive. Novartis AG has a Earnings Estimate Score of 56, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Novo Nordisk A/S

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Novo Nordisk A/S has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than Novartis AG. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Novo Nordisk A/S could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Novo Nordisk A/S and Novartis AG Grades

In addition to Estimate Revisions, Growth and Momentum, A+ Investor also provides grades for Value and Quality.

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection. Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and F-Score.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Novo Nordisk A/S and Novartis AG pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Novo Nordisk A/S or Novartis AG Stock?

Overall, Novo Nordisk A/S stock has a Growth Score of 89, Momentum Score of 32 and Estimate Revisions Score of 67.

Novartis AG stock has a Growth Score of 56, Momentum Score of 69 and Estimate Revisions Score of 56.

Comparing Novo Nordisk A/S and Novartis AG’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.