Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) inventory is up approximately 310% year-to-date (YTD), making it the highest gainer amongst U.S.-listed mid-cap shares. Salad-focused restaurant chain Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) is a distant second, with a YTD return of 121%. Just a little over a yr faraway from being a little-known PNW Reader stock, VKTX climbed as excessive as $99.41 on February 28, 2024. Regardless of its rise, analysts stay bullish. In reality, all eight analysts which have coated the inventory over the previous month have assigned it a Purchase score.
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Viking Therapeutics’ quick 2024 begin is all in regards to the weight reduction drug increase. The San Diego-based biopharmaceutical firm develops novel therapies for numerous metabolic and endocrine problems. It has three packages which might be in medical trials — together with potential remedies for NASH and X-ALD — however curiosity within the inventory is centered on VK2735, the corporate’s revolutionary weight problems drug.
It’s arduous to go towards the Road’s unanimously bullish view of VKTX. I, too, see the inventory transferring greater from right here, given its publicity to an weight problems drug market that might exceed $100 billion by 2030. Giant-cap peer Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) has seen its share worth surge in current months because of the immense recognition of its Ozempic and Wegovy medication. The valuations of Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY) and people of a number of different pharmaceutical firms creating GLP-1 weight problems medication have additionally swelled since final yr.
Viking Therapeutics is shortly making a reputation for itself on this market. Let’s see what analysts are saying in regards to the firm’s progress potential.
Viking Therapeutics’ Weight problems Program Is Advancing
5-star-rated Oppenheimer analyst Jay Olson could also be Viking Therapeutics’ largest bull. Final week, Olson raised his price target on VKTX to a Street-high $138.00, which suggests 80% upside from present ranges. This got here after the biotech reported optimistic top-line outcomes from the Part 1 trial of oral VK2735. The analyst famous that the outcomes of the Part 1 trial help development into Part 2, which expands an already spectacular alternative for Viking Therapeutics’ weight problems program.
In tandem with its oral weight reduction tablet, the corporate is creating an injectable formulation of VK2735, which is exhibiting promising outcomes of its personal. In February 2024, Viking Therapeutics introduced optimistic top-line outcomes from its Part 2 VENTURE trial of the injectable candidate. Sufferers with weight problems noticed as much as 13.1% placebo-adjusted imply weight reduction after 13 weeks of therapy. Providing each injectable and oral choices might assist the corporate seize a better share of the weight problems administration market.
Oppenheimer isn’t the one one feeling bullish about VKTX. Naz Rahman from Maxim Group just lately reiterated his Buy rating on the stock and stored a $120.00 worth goal. The analyst cited a number of components, together with the encouraging medical outcomes. The oral pill model of VK2735 achieved as much as 3.3% imply weight reduction in a 28-day a number of ascending dose (MAD) examine.
Extra importantly, Rahman believes that the drug’s favorable security profile might give Viking Therapeutics a aggressive benefit. In comparison with different GLP-1 medication, VK2735 had a low incidence of gastrointestinal (GI) adversarial results.
Viking Therapeutics plans to provoke a Part 2 trial of oral VK2735 within the second half of 2024. As administration famous, this examine might characteristic longer therapy durations and better doses, which maintain the potential for better weight reduction.
Grownup Weight problems Has Extra Than Doubled Since 1990
A current World Well being Group (WHO) report exhibits that 43% of adults are chubby, and 16% live with weight problems. Globally, grownup weight problems has greater than doubled, and adolescent weight problems has quadrupled since 1990. Weight problems has a number of unfavorable well being penalties — together with elevated danger of coronary heart illness, kind 2 diabetes, and sure cancers — and is, subsequently, a significant world well being problem.
What does this imply for Viking Therapeutics? If the corporate can proceed to exhibit the efficacy and security of its weight problems medication, it might ultimately have two commercialized merchandise to promote. And if healthcare practitioners proceed to prescribe weight administration medication to satisfy rising affected person demand, Viking Therapeutics might get a big chunk of a big, rising market.
What Is the Consensus Value Goal for VKTX Inventory?
Turning again to Wall Road, Viking Therapeutics has a Sturdy Purchase consensus score. That is primarily based on 9 Buys, no Holds, and no Sells issued prior to now three months. The average Viking Therapeutics stock price target is $113.50, which suggests 48.3% upside potential over the subsequent 12 months. Analyst worth targets vary from $90.00 to $138.00.
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The Backside Line on VKTX Inventory
Viking Therapeutics has proven promising ends in early-phase research of its injectable and oral weight problems drug candidates. The corporate’s share worth has already quadrupled this yr, however the Wall Road group continues to supply bullish commentary. This implies that it will not be too late for buyers to achieve from 2024’s best-performing mid-cap inventory.
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