1 Incredible Reason to Buy Novo Nordisk Stock (NVO) in November -- or Sooner

When seeking amazing stocks for your portfolio, finding a very promising company is not enough. The ideal stock investment is not only a high-quality company with great growth prospects but also one whose shares are trading at a compelling price. A good example of this combo is Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO), the Denmark-based drugmaker.

You may not know much about Novo Nordisk, but it's the company behind two of the leading GLP-1 agonist products, Ozempic and Wegovy, and demand for such drugs (one of which is approved for weight loss) has been very strong. Shares of its rival Eli Lilly, another weight-loss drugmaker, have fallen by 8.5% over the past year (as of Oct. 23) and averaged annual gains of 34.9% over the past three years. But the corresponding numbers for Novo Nordisk are a drop of 52.5%, and annual growth of only 3.3%. Ouch.

What's going on? Well, Novo Nordisk has suffered some clinical setbacks. It's recently posted some disappointing earnings. And its Wegovy has lost some market share to Eli Lilly's Zepbound.

Despite all that, there are some good reasons to consider buying into Novo Nordisk -- and the best is its low valuation, given its growth potential. The stock's recent price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 14.6 is well below its five-year average of 31.3, and its recent price-to-sales ratio of 5.2 is well below its (steep) five-year average of 10.6.

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Here are some other reasons you might want to take a closer look at Novo Nordisk:

• It's working on an oral version of Wegovy -- which bodes well, as most people would likely prefer to take a pill rather than inject themselves. Eli Lilly is also working on this, but Novo Nordisk expects a decision from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) well before Lilly receives one.
• The oral formulation of Wegovy appears to deliver safer and better results than Lilly's candidate does.
• Novo Nordisk has a busy pipeline of drugs in development: A third weight-loss drug is in the works, and it's investigating whether its Ozempic might slow cognitive decline in people with Alzheimer's disease.
• It's not exactly in a bad slump. In the first half of the year, revenue grew by 16% year over year, with operating profit up 25% and net profit growing 22%.
• The company's key offerings are chiefly focused on treating diabetes and obesity, which are extremely widespread conditions. According to the American Diabetes Association, some 38 million Americans in 2021 -- 11.6% of the population -- had diabetes. (Most had type 2 diabetes, which GLP-1 drugs address.) And per the National Center for Health Statistics, some 40% of American adults were obese between 2021 and 2023.

So if you expect continued demand for weight loss drugs, and you're optimistic about Novo Nordisk's ability to serve diabetic and obese patients, give the company a closer look.

Selena Maranjian has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.