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🗞️ Novo Nordisk vs. HIMS
PLUS: Oracle spikes 9.6%
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Market Performance
S&P 500: 6,964.82 ⬆️ 0.47%
Nasdaq: 23,238.67 ⬆️ 0.90%
Dow Jones: 50,135.87 ⬆️ 0.04%
Novo Nordisk Declares War on Hims & Hers
Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk (NVO) just filed a lawsuit against online telehealth company Hims & Hers (HIMS) for selling cheaper, compounded versions of its blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy.
Novo is seeking a permanent court order banning Hims from selling these copycat medications and seeking damages for patent infringement.
Novo's lawyer called Hims' compounded drugs "a complete sham" and accused the company of putting patients at risk with untested medicines.
The timing matters: Hims had just announced it would stop offering its new obesity pill (priced at $49 versus Novo's $150+ version) after facing FDA scrutiny.
Hims fired back hard, calling the lawsuit "a blatant attack by a Danish company on millions of Americans" and accusing Big Pharma of weaponizing the courts to limit consumer choice.
The stakes? Enormous. Novo estimates 1.5 million Americans are using compounded GLP-1 drugs—that's the market share Novo desperately wants back as it battles Eli Lilly for obesity drug dominance.
The regulatory loophole that allowed compounding when drugs were in shortage was technically closed when semaglutide (Wegovy's active ingredient) was removed from the shortage list, but companies like Hims have continued to operate by claiming their products are "personalized."
HIMS stock has a Ziggma score of 79, driven primarily by growth, even as it ranks lower than peers for valuation and profitability.
Our Takeaway
This is a defining moment for healthcare access versus pharmaceutical profits. Novo has already filed 130 similar suits, and the FDA announced potential action against Hims on Friday.
Expect this battle to reshape how Americans access weight-loss medications. For investors, Novo's shares climbed 3% while Hims crashed over 16%—the market has already picked its winner.
➡️ FREE ZIGGMA RESEARCH: Nvidia (NVDA Stock): 60%+ Earnings Growth, AI Dominance, and a Profound Impact Edge 🔖 Read for free on Substack 🎧 Listen to podcast
Market Overview 📈
Monday saw tech stocks lead a modest rally as investors digested a volatile previous week and positioned ahead of critical economic data.
The S&P 500 advanced for a second consecutive session, while the Dow notched both an intraday and closing record, crossing 50,000 for the first time ever on Friday and extending gains Monday.
The rotation trade continued in full force.
The equal-weighted S&P 500 flirted with another record close, up over 5% year-to-date versus just 2% for the cap-weighted index.
Small caps maintained leadership with the Russell 2000 up more than 8% in 2026, while the Nasdaq sits barely positive.
AI darlings Nvidia and Broadcom extended Friday's rebound with gains of 2.5% and 3.3%, respectively.
Investor sentiment improved on multiple fronts.
The New York Fed's Consumer Expectations Survey showed one-year inflation expectations dropping to 3.1%—the lowest since summer and down 0.3 percentage points from December. Job loss fears also eased slightly.
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Stock Moves Deciphered 📈
💰 Oracle (ORCL)
Oracle shares exploded 9.66% after D.A. Davidson upgraded the stock to "buy" from "neutral."
Analyst Gil Luria cited OpenAI's strategic reset—refocusing on ChatGPT, its flagship AI model, and aligning with key partners such as Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon rather than competing with them.
Luria believes OpenAI's corrected course positions it to be Google's top AI challenger, directly benefiting Oracle's cloud infrastructure business.
🧑💻 Monday.com (MNDY)
Monday.com plummeted 21% despite beating fourth-quarter estimates with earnings of $0.24 per share (versus $0.21 expected) on $338 million in revenue.
However, it projected Q1 revenue of $338-340 million (below the $343 million consensus) and full-year revenue of $1.452-1.462 billion (versus $1.48 billion expected).
Rising fears of AI disruption hammered software stocks across the board, as investors worry that agentic AI tools could replace traditional project management platforms.
📉 Robinhood (HOOD)
Robinhood climbed 4.52% after Wolfe Research upgraded the stock to "outperform" with a bullish $125 price target.
Lead analyst Sharon Leung noted that 2027 EPS estimates have surged by more than 60% over the past year, driven by durable revenue streams from prediction markets that offset cryptocurrency-related pressures.
Wolfe sees "ample room" for prediction market revenues to expand despite regulatory risks and litigation against betting venues.
Headlines You Can't Miss 👀
📺 Nexstar Media & Tegna surged 12% and 8%, respectively, after President Trump reversed course and endorsed their merger via social media post.
🔌 STMicroelectronics jumped 7% in premarket after announcing a multi-billion-dollar expanded partnership with Amazon Web Services for cloud and AI data center infrastructure.
🛒 Kroger shares popped nearly 5% on reports that the grocery chain is preparing to name former Walmart executive Greg Foran as its next CEO.
₿ Bitcoin rebounded to $70,918 after plunging 15% last week to $61,000—its lowest level in 16 months. Bernstein analysts called the selloff "a crisis of confidence" and maintained their $150,000 year-end target.
🇯🇵 Japan's Nikkei 225 soared over 4% to record highs above 56,000 after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's ruling party won a landmark supermajority in lower house elections.
💼 Goldman Sachs, Caterpillar & Microsoft led Dow gains as the blue-chip index notched its seventh record high of 2026.
Trending Stocks 📊
💰 Roblox (RBLX)
Roblox surged 10.58% after Roth Capital upgraded the stock to "buy" with an $84 price target.
Q4 results crushed expectations with 144 million daily active users (versus 138 million consensus) and strong bookings guidance. Adult users (18+) grew 50% year over year, demonstrating successful demographic expansion beyond children.
💸 Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF)
Cleveland-Cliffs crashed 16.5% after missing Q4 revenue expectations and reporting a narrower-than-expected loss.
Despite investor Jim Lebenthal adding to his position, citing rising hot-rolled coil steel prices and improving volumes, the stock was overbought heading into earnings. Lebenthal remains bullish on 2026, expecting strong free cash flow generation.
⬇️ Kyndryl (KD)
Kyndryl Holdings imploded 55%—its largest-ever single-day decline—after disclosing its audit committee is reviewing cash management practices. CFO David Wyshner and General Counsel Edward Sebold immediately departed. The IBM spinoff, which closed its first day at $26.38 in late 2021, now trades 60% below that level and is down 75% over the past year.
What’s Next?
Key market and macro news 👇
🥤 Coca-Cola Earnings: Beverage giant reports results pre-market with expected EPS of $0.56, up 1.82% year-over-year.
🎧 Spotify Earnings: Streaming platform reports Q4 2025 with expected EPS of $2.95, surging 56.91% year-over-year. An exceptional growth trajectory signals strong demand for digital entertainment.
🏥 CVS Health Earnings: Healthcare retailer reports Q4 2025 with expected EPS of $0.99, declining 16.81% year-over-year. Significant earnings contraction raises profitability concerns.
📊 Retail Sales Data Release (December 2025): Consumer spending expected to grow by 0.25% monthly. Strong retail data could support equity valuations amid economic growth concerns and inflation dynamics.
🧑✈️ Employment Cost Index: A quarterly wage-and-benefit inflation metric that measures labor cost pressures affecting corporate profitability. An expected 0.8% quarterly growth rate indicates persistent wage inflation, influencing the timing of Fed rate cuts and equity market expectations for 2026.
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