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Monday's Featured Story Pfizer Adds to Its Big Bet on Weight Loss DrugsWritten by Jordan Chussler. Published 12/16/2025. 
Key Points - The health care sector has led the S&P 500 over the three months, but Pfizer has lagged of late, slipping 5% since the start of October.
- As the Big Pharma company continues to struggle to replace COVID-19 vaccine revenue, it is heavily learning into the semaglutide and GLP-1 weight loss drug trend.
- Last week, the company signed a $2.1 billion licensing agreement with a Chinese pharma company to develop its early-stage weight loss pill.
Health care stocks have been on a run, leading the S&P 500's 11 sectors over the past three months with an 11.55% gain. Unfortunately for some investors, that rally has not included all of the Big Pharma mainstays. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), the maker of Chantix, Eliquis and Paxlovid, has seen its shares slide about 5% since the start of October. By comparison, other mega-cap pharmaceutical companies such as Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: REGN), and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) are up roughly 14%, 24%, and 25%, respectively, over the same period. A major force in the crypto world is quietly becoming one of gold's most aggressive buyers — and most investors have no idea it's happening.
A longtime gold analyst says profits from a leading stablecoin operation are being funneled into physical gold at a scale that could materially impact supply and demand. After a recent meeting with insiders, he began outlining what this trend could mean for gold prices and a small group of companies positioned to benefit. Read the full gold briefing here Despite Pfizer making headlines on Nov. 13 after acquiring obesity biotech Metsera in a $10 billion deal, the stock has managed only a 0.23% gain since then. The nearly 177-year-old biopharma company is once again looking to expand its role in the weight-loss drug market, with management and shareholders hoping that doing so can help offset declining revenue as demand for mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines wanes. Pfizer Looks to Gain Market Share After Enormous Deal With YaoPharma On Tuesday, Dec. 9, Pfizer struck a $2.1 billion licensing deal with China's YaoPharma to develop a GLP-1 weight-loss pill that is in early-stage development. The drug aims to work similarly to Wegovy, the game-changing weight-loss injection from competitor Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO). News of a yet-to-be-approved pill may not move the stock in the short term. It does, however, reflect the company's commitment and momentum in the obesity treatment market. Under the agreement, Pfizer will pay a $150 million upfront fee to YaoPharma's parent company, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical, which has an $8.4 billion market cap. Additionally, Pfizer could pay YaoPharma up to $1.94 billion in milestone payments tied to development and regulatory progress, plus royalties on sales if and when the drug is approved. Those milestone payments are contingent on YaoPharma successfully advancing the weight-loss pill through Phase 1 trials, after which Pfizer will take control of later-stage development. Pfizer also plans to conduct combination studies—currently in mid-stage development—using the Chinese firm's pill together with its own GIP gut-hormone receptor agonist, mirroring a strategy Eli Lilly has used with its weight-loss drug Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro, which target both GLP‑1 and GIP. Pfizer Is Positioning Itself for the Future of the Weight-Loss Drug Market The deal underscores how aggressively Pfizer's executive team is pursuing a larger, long-term role in the GLP-1 and broader obesity-treatment market. Pfizer has invested roughly $10.1 billion over the past month toward that goal as it eyes a rapidly growing industry. Forecasts from market analysis firm Grand View Research estimate the GLP-1 weight-loss drug market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.54% from 2025 to 2030, expanding from under $14 billion this year to about $48.84 billion by 2030. Grand View Research also found that North America accounts for the largest revenue share, representing more than 75% of the GLP-1 agonists market. While alternatives such as lifestyle changes and bariatric surgery exist, GLP-1 drugs remain the preferred option among many physicians and patients. Patient Investors Can Enjoy PFE's Sizable Dividend Shareholders are hoping Pfizer's push into weight-loss drugs proves fruitful after the stock has lost more than 31% over the past five years. Much of that decline stems from falling COVID-vaccine sales, which caused revenue to swing from growth of more than 95% at the end of 2021 to a decline of more than 41% by the end of 2023. Last year, Pfizer rebounded modestly, posting nearly a 7% increase in revenue. The stock's dividend yield has helped offset some investors' concerns: Pfizer remains a strong dividend payer with a current yield of 6.65%—about $1.72 per share annually. That payout has increased for 16 consecutive years, making the stock attractive to income investors despite a roughly 100% dividend payout ratio that raises questions about sustainability. For investors less concerned with immediate capital gains and bullish on the near- and mid-term outlook for prescription weight-loss drugs, Pfizer can provide income while serving as a speculative way to play the GLP-1 market. However, growth-focused investors may be reluctant to tolerate another year of lackluster performance. Analysts' average 12-month price target suggests a little more than 10% upside from the stock's current price, and the consensus rating remains Hold. Meanwhile, short interest has been rising as the stock attracts Wall Street bears. Currently, about $3.58 billion worth of the float is shorted—nearly 84% more than PFE's short position at the end of January 2025.
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