Latest news with #VK2735
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
3 Best Growth Stocks to Buy in June
These three growth stocks have major catalysts that could drive significant gains in the months ahead. The selections range from AI infrastructure plays to biotechnology. 10 stocks we like better than CoreWeave › Growth investors have had to work harder than usual to find winners in 2025. With the S&P 500 essentially flat year to date amid President Trump's global trade reset and persistent inflation concerns, the easy gains of prior years have evaporated. Yet beneath the surface, a select group of companies continues to deliver explosive growth driven by transformative trends in artificial intelligence (AI), healthcare innovation, and next-generation technologies. The divergence between market leaders and laggards has rarely been more pronounced. While the average stock treads water, companies with genuine competitive advantages and exposure to secular growth themes are posting triple-digit gains. From AI infrastructure providers handling the computational demands of large language models to biotech firms developing breakthrough obesity treatments, the opportunities for outsized returns remain -- if you know where to look. Here are three growth stocks with the catalysts, financials, and market positioning to potentially deliver significant gains in the months ahead. CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) has emerged as the picks-and-shovels play of the AI revolution. The company operates specialized data centers built from the ground up for GPU-intensive computing, providing the infrastructure that powers large language models and generative AI applications. Shares have rocketed 185% year to date, driven by explosive growth and massive customer wins. The company's Q1 2025 revenue surged 420% year over year to $981.6 million, while its $11.9 billion contract with OpenAI validates its position as the go-to infrastructure provider for AI leaders. With a $25.9 billion revenue backlog and management guiding for $4.9 billion to $5.1 billion in 2025 revenue, the growth runway remains substantial. The main risk is the company's hefty losses. CoreWeave posted a $314.6 million net loss in Q1, driven by $264 million in interest expenses. Furthermore, capital expenditures are expected to reach $20 billion to $23 billion in 2025 alone. Another key risk is that customer concentration remains high, with Microsoft representing 62% of 2024 revenue. However, for investors who believe AI adoption is still in the early innings, CoreWeave offers one of the purest plays on the trend. Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) stands out as a contrarian opportunity. Despite shares falling 33% this year, the clinical-stage biotech has multiple shots on goal with its pipeline of metabolic and endocrine therapies. The key catalyst ahead is data from the Phase 2 VENTURE trial for VK2735, the company's oral obesity drug candidate. Top-line results are expected in the second half of this year. Meanwhile, the company is preparing to launch Phase 3 trials for its subcutaneous VK2735 formulation later this quarter, positioning the drug for potential regulatory approval within a few years. This dual-track approach, consisting of oral and injectable formulations, maximizes the commercial opportunity in the competitive obesity market. Viking reported cash and investments of approximately $852 million at the end of Q1 2025, providing runway through multiple clinical readouts without dilution. Wall Street remains bullish with a median price target of $90, representing over 230% upside from current levels. For biotech investors comfortable with clinical risk, the recent pullback creates an attractive entry point ahead of potentially game-changing data. Navitas Semiconductor (NASDAQ: NVTS) is pioneering next-generation power semiconductors using gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) technologies. These materials enable faster, more efficient, and smaller power systems -- critical for everything from EV chargers to data center power supplies. Shares have gained 42.8% this year despite Q1 2025 revenue of just $14 million, down from $23.2 million a year ago. The catalyst? Nvidia recently selected Navitas to collaborate on its next-generation 800V HVDC architecture for "Kyber" rack-scale systems that will power future GPUs. This collaboration positions Navitas at the heart of AI infrastructure buildout, with its GaN and SiC technologies enabling power delivery from grid to GPU for megawatt-scale AI data centers. The company has $450 million in design wins from 2024 that should convert to revenue starting late 2025, with the majority hitting in 2026. Additional wins include a 12 kW AI data center power platform and the industry's first GaN EV on-board charger with Changan. With over 250 million GaN units shipped to date, Navitas has proven its game-changing technology is ready for prime time, making its stock a compelling growth play right now. Before you buy stock in CoreWeave, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and CoreWeave wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $651,049!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $828,224!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 979% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 171% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 George Budwell has positions in Navitas Semiconductor and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Viking Therapeutics. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 3 Best Growth Stocks to Buy in June was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
2 Monster Stocks in the Making to Buy Now and Hold for 10 Years
Viking Therapeutics has a promising pipeline candidate in the fast-growing therapeutic area of weight loss. Madrigal Pharmaceuticals markets the only approved therapy for a disease whose prevalence is growing. 10 stocks we like better than Viking Therapeutics › Investing in promising companies before their stock prices soar is an excellent recipe for earning life-changing returns. However, with hundreds of companies vying for investors' attention, separating the wheat from the chaff can be challenging. Recognizing those corporations with long-term market-beating potential -- especially before they are well-established -- isn't easy, but let's give it a shot anyway. Consider two mid-cap biotechs: Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) and Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MDGL). These two drugmakers could grow in prominence in the next decade and deliver superior returns. Viking Therapeutics became famous in the biotech world last year after announcing positive phase 2 results for VK2735, an investigational GLP-1 weight loss candidate. The stock has not performed well since, which we can attribute to several factors. First, longtime investors took the opportunity to cash in on its big jump. Second, Viking hasn't had any clinical update as significant as that since. Third, like most other corporations, the drugmaker is suffering from marketwide issues. However, the bullish case for Viking is straightforward. The company could develop successful medicines in areas with unmet or growing needs. VK2735 has produced phase 2 data that rivals almost any other anti-obesity candidate outside those being developed by the leaders in the field, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Then there's VK2809, a promising candidate for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Because obesity is a major risk factor for MASH, there's a significant need for therapies to address the condition. There is only one medicine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for this disease, so there's room for others. VK2809, like VK2735, should make more progress this year. Elsewhere, Viking is developing VK0214 to treat X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD), a rare genetic nervous-system disorder. There are ways to manage X-ALD symptoms, but there is no disease-specific FDA-approved treatment. VK0214 has earned the orphan drug designation from the agency, which is reserved for therapies in development that have shown promising clinical evidence in treating rare diseases. So Viking's pipeline looks promising, and we haven't even mentioned the company's oral version of VK2735. True, the stock is somewhat risky, as are all clinical-stage biotech companies. However, if enough things go Viking's way, it could generate monster returns in the next decade as it earns approval for key products and starts generating strong revenue. In my view, initiating a small position in the stock is worth it. The only FDA-approved medicine for MASH, Rezdiffra, belongs to Madrigal Pharmaceuticals. It earned this honor early last year, although the medicine is under accelerated approval; that means it will have to prove efficacy once and for all in confirmatory studies, or it could be taken off the market. In the meantime, the drug is performing well. In the first quarter, its sales came in at $137.3 million, ahead of consensus analyst estimates; the medicine has made it a habit to top Wall Street's projections. It also speaks volumes about Madrigal. Plenty of drugmaking giants are looking to develop breakthrough therapies in this field. So far, only Madrigal has succeeded. Though another company will eventually challenge Madrigal, the future still looks bright. The biotech is already treating 17,000 patients with Rezdiffra, but that's still just about 5% of the 315,000 the company is targeting. Also, its crown jewel is approved for MASH patients with moderate to advanced liver fibrosis (scarring). Madrigal will seek label expansions in the most advanced form of scarring, cirrhosis. The biotech estimates that this indication could double its target market. And that's before we consider the fact that the number of people with MASH is increasing and, according to some estimates, will continue to do so well beyond the next 10 with potential competition on the way, Madrigal Pharmaceuticals has a massive addressable market. That, together with its first-mover advantage and potential clinical progress for Rezdiffra, could allow it to generate superior returns in the next 10 years. The company could be on the way to establishing itself as a biotech leader. Before you buy stock in Viking Therapeutics, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Viking Therapeutics wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $598,613!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $753,878!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 922% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 169% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 12, 2025 Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Viking Therapeutics. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk and Viking Therapeutics. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 2 Monster Stocks in the Making to Buy Now and Hold for 10 Years was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Down Nearly 20%: Should You Buy the Dip on Eli Lilly?
Several factors have contributed to Lilly's share price decline, including earnings misses and increased competition. However, Lilly's growth prospects still look promising. 10 stocks we like better than Eli Lilly › For a while, it seemed as if Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) could do no wrong. Its shares skyrocketed. The company's market cap grew so much that it was within striking distance of the $1 trillion mark. Along the way, Lilly became the largest healthcare company in the world based on market cap. However, the situation isn't so rosy for Eli Lilly now. The big pharma stock has fallen nearly 20% below its peak set last year. Some dark clouds hover on the horizon. Should you buy Lilly on the dip? There isn't just one factor behind the decline in Lilly's share price. However, the biggest issue for the drugmaker is a common one for high-flying stocks: Lilly didn't meet Wall Street estimates. Unfortunately, the company has failed to deliver the results analysts expected in two out of the last three quarters. The worst miss was in the third quarter of 2024, when Lilly's earnings came in roughly 19.5% below the consensus estimate. More recently, the big pharma company narrowly missed earnings expectations by around 3.4%. Regardless of the size of the miss, though, investors expect a stock with a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 36.6 to be practically perfect. Concerns about rising competition in the obesity drug market have also weighed on Lilly's share price. Novo Nordisk is on track to file for regulatory approval of CagriSema in early 2026. CVS Health recently chose Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy as a preferred drug on its formulary over Zepbound. Roche teamed up with Zealand Pharma, which has a promising weight-loss drug in clinical development. Viking Therapeutics is advancing its experimental obesity drug VK2735 into late-stage clinical testing. To add more uncertainty to the mix, the Trump administration has threatened major tariffs on pharmaceutical imports. Lilly CEO David Ricks acknowledged in the company's Q1 earnings call that tariffs "would have a negative effect on Lilly and for our industry." Reuters also recently reported that the White House is considering implementing international reference pricing, which would peg the price Medicare pays for prescription drugs to the prices that other major countries pay. Ricks said in the Q1 call that looking at U.S. versus European list prices for drugs in isolation is "a nonsensical idea." Why consider buying Lilly stock with these issues in the forefront? The most important reason to invest in the drugmaker is still its growth prospects. Sales are booming for Lilly's tirzepatide products, Mounjaro and Zepbound. The company's market share for incretin analogs now tops 50%. Notably, Lilly's market share is increasing while Novo Nordisk's share is decreasing. Lilly's pipeline features other promising obesity drugs as well. The company plans to file for approvals of orforglipron (a weight-loss pill taken daily) later this year, pending successful completion of current phase 3 studies. Lilly hopes to follow up with regulatory submissions of orforglipron as a treatment for type 2 diabetes in the first half of 2026. Breast cancer drug Verzenio continues to enjoy solid momentum, with sales jumping 10% year over year in Q1. The therapy is especially growing in international markets. Lilly has 25 programs in late-stage testing, notably including Jaypirca as a first-line monotherapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia and olomorasib in treating non-small cell lung cancer. The company also awaits regulatory approvals for tirzepatide in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and imlunestrant in breast cancer. Should investors buy Lilly stock on the dip? I think it's important to weigh all the pros and cons first. However, the balance tips in favor of investing in this drugmaker, in my opinion. I fully expect Lilly to remain a dominant player in the obesity and type 2 diabetes markets. The company should continue to make inroads in oncology and other indications. The Trump administration's potential pharmaceutical tariffs and Medicare pricing changes are wild cards that could change the dynamics. Still, though, I think Lilly's sell-off presents a buying opportunity. Before you buy stock in Eli Lilly, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Eli Lilly wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $613,546!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $695,897!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 893% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 162% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 5, 2025 Keith Speights has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends CVS Health, Novo Nordisk, Roche Holding AG, and Viking Therapeutics. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Down Nearly 20%: Should You Buy the Dip on Eli Lilly? was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Viking Therapeutics Stock Surged Nearly 20% Higher in April
Key Points A potential rival in a white-hot product segment bowed out of the race for now. That makes Viking's leading pipeline candidate a better bet to be a segment star... if it comes to market. One of the best catalysts for a stock's rise is the withdrawal of a rival. That was an important dynamic behind the double-digit-percentage rise of biotech Viking Therapeutics' (NASDAQ: VKTX) stock in April. Another was a looming late-stage clinical trial of a closely watched pipeline drug that's loaded with potential. A potential rival drops out For a relatively young, clinical-stage company, Viking has developed quite a high profile. That's because its leading drug candidate, VK2735, is its possible entry into the high-demand GLP-1 weight loss drug market. So far, that space is occupied by a mere two treatments that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved specifically for treating obesity: Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » Image source: Getty Images. For a time, American pharmaceutical sector mainstay Pfizer was vying to be on that short list. However, on April 14 it threw in the towel. The company announced formally that it had discontinued the development of its homegrown weight-loss medication danuglipron, following a liver injury to a patient during a clinical trial. Had it followed through with danuglipron's development and eventually won approval to sell the drug, Pfizer surely would have been a near-instant top player in the obesity segment. The U.S. has a notoriously high obesity rate, a major reason the take-up of GLP-1 drugs was so intense right out of the gate in mid-2021, with the FDA's nod for Wegovy. I should stress here that, unlike Wegovy and Zepbound, Viking's VK2735 is still in the investigational stage. Yet the drug did extremely well in phase 2 testing, and its performance raised hopes that it could be the great usurper in the market if it ultimately earns an FDA nod. Who's afraid of a bottom-line miss? Buttressing such hopes was Viking's first quarter earnings report, published slightly over a week after Pfizer's danuglipron retreat. As a clinical-stage company, the biotech didn't have any revenue to report. Meanwhile, expenses zoomed higher on a year-over-year basis -- understandably, given the VK2735 push -- to deepen net loss considerably. This figure came in at $45 million, or $0.41 per share, against the year-ago shortfall of nearly $29 million. The consensus analyst estimate for net loss was only $0.33.
Globe and Mail
02-05-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Why Viking Therapeutics Stock Was Victorious This Week
Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX), a biotech that has shot to prominence thanks to a weight-loss drug it is developing, was a winning stock this week. Over the course of the past five trading days, its price rose by almost 18%, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. It seems a global health agency is ready to support the kinds of medications the company is working on. WHO is backing weight-loss drugs? On Thursday, citing a memo it had reviewed, Reuters reported that no less a body than the United Nations' World Health Organization (WHO) is gearing up to back the use of obesity drugs. The agency will officially support the use of such medications by adults struggling to lose weight, and will make a push to improve access to the drugs for lower- and middle-income patients. Drugs approved specifically for weight loss are led in the U.S. by Novo Nordisk 's Wegovy and Zepbound from Eli Lilly. Given that they are relatively easier means of shedding pounds than a consistent diet and exercise regime, they have proven to be highly popular among the public in a country with a worsening obesity problem. With the runaway success of those two treatments, rival pharmaceutical and biotech companies are racing to develop their own weight-loss drugs. Among the leaders in the race is Viking, whose VK2735 has performed extremely well in phase 2 clinical trials. If the drug eventually wins approval and hits pharmacy shelves, it's certain to at least approach the popularity of Zepbound and Wegovy. A worldwide problem Needless to say, it'll get an additional boost from the generally well-respected WHO backing obesity treatments. Although weight management is a particularly vexing challenge in the U.S., it is by no means limited to this country; Viking and its peers have a market throughout the world for this kind of drug. Should you invest $1,000 in Viking Therapeutics right now? Before you buy stock in Viking Therapeutics, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Viking Therapeutics wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $611,271!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $684,068!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is889% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to162%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of April 28, 2025
