Key Points

• Obesity is linked to many diseases, including cancer.

• A recent study found that tumors in mice shrank after they were administered tirzepatide.

• It could take years for GLP-1 drugs to obtain regulatory approval as cancer-related treatments.

• 10 stocks we like better than Eli Lilly ›

GLP-1 agonist drugs like Zepbound and Mounjaro from drugmaker Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) continue to rise in popularity as people are hopeful about the weight loss they can achieve with their help. But a growing number of studies suggest that they could be useful in indications beyond diabetes and weight loss.

One particularly intriguing study involves cancer, and it reveals a potential role for GLP-1 agonists in that area of healthcare. If GLP-1 drugs end up obtaining approval as treatments related to oncology, that could unlock a massive new sales growth opportunity for them. That could make a stock like Eli Lilly an even better buy than it is today.

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.

Study finds tumors shrank in mice with the help of tirzepatide

Previous studies have shown that when people shed weight, they reduce their risks of developing many illnesses, among them, cancer. But a recent study presented at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting found that GLP-1 agonists could have a more direct impact: They may also reduce the size of breast cancer tumors.

The study was modest in scope and not on human patients: Its subjects were 16 mice. Those mice that received injections of tirzepatide (the active ingredient in both Zepbound and Mounjaro) for 16 weeks lost around 20% of their weight, which was comparable to the weight loss that humans achieve while on the drug. And their tumors shrank by around that percentage as well. "Researchers found that tumor volume was significantly correlated with body weight," reported ScienceDaily.

But even though these results are promising, they are very preliminary. It would take years of studies on humans before a GLP-1 drug could conceivably obtain a label expansion for use in treating any type of cancer. However, there is hope that GLP-1 drugs can do more than just help with diabetes and weight reduction. Regulators did approve tirzepatide for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea last year. And another study found that it can help reduce the risk of heart failure.

As more research is done on GLP-1 drugs, the number of indications they can treat may grow significantly. And if tirzepatide is able to help treat cancer, it could make this already massive drug a sales behemoth for Eli Lilly.

Business has been booming for Eli Lilly, and more growth is still ahead

Eli Lilly has already been performing incredibly well, thanks in large part to its highly successful GLP-1 drugs. In the first three months of 2025, its sales soared by 45% year over year to $12.7 billion. Zepbound and Mounjaro combined to make up $6.2 billion of that tally.

And what's exciting is that these drugs are still in their early growth stages. That's a big reason why Eli Lilly stock trades at a hefty premium of 65 times its trailing earnings. Its 5-year price-to-earnings growth (PEG) multiple of 1.2 indicates, however, that it may not be that expensive relative to its medium-term growth potential.

Eli Lilly stock is a no-brainer buy

Although the stock may not look cheap, Eli Lilly could be among the best long-term investments you can add to your portfolio today. If tirzepatide racks up more indications and Eli Lilly's already approved drugs reach greater numbers of people, its sales and profits are likely to rise in the years ahead.

This year, the stock is up a modest 4% as the hype around it appears to have cooled. But if you're in it for the long haul, it would be hard to go wrong with Eli Lilly. It may just be one of the best growth stocks in the healthcare sector.

Should you invest $1,000 in Eli Lilly right now?

Before you buy stock in Eli Lilly, 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 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 $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,063,471!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% 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 July 21, 2025

David Jagielski has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• President Trump's tariffs could erode healthcare companies' profits, but some may perform well regardless.

• Eli Lilly and Novartis have taken steps to mitigate the potential impact.

• Both drugmakers are innovative, deliver strong financial results, and have excellent dividends.

• 10 stocks we like better than Eli Lilly ›

President Donald Trump's trade policies have caused tumult on Wall Street. The president has pushed for aggressive tariffs on imported goods in an attempt to bring manufacturing jobs back to the country.

Although there were hopes that certain sectors would be spared -- including healthcare -- it turns out that won't be the case. Higher duties on imports could increase companies' costs, which would squeeze their margins and bottom lines, and meaningfully hurt their stock performance. However, even with this threat, there are still some healthcare companies worth investing in, including Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) and Novartis (NYSE: NVS).

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.

1. Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly has been expanding its U.S.-based manufacturing capacity for years, but it has recently accelerated this effort. The pharmaceutical leader has now invested, or committed to invest, $50 billion to build or update manufacturing sites in the country since 2020, about half of which it announced during the first quarter.

According to management, once it completes its ongoing projects, it will be able to manufacture 100% of medicines aimed at U.S. patients within the country while also increasing its exports. In other words, the drugmaker will be mostly insulated from the impact of Trump's tariffs.

And there are other reasons to invest in Eli Lilly. Here are three:

First, the company has demonstrated remarkable innovation in its core areas of diabetes and obesity in recent years. Its newer launches, Mounjaro and Zepbound, are already generating billions and allowing it to grow its revenue and earnings at a good rate.

In the first quarter, its top line rose 45% year over year to $12.7 billion. Net income was $2.8 billion, 23% higher than the year-ago period. Results like these should be the norm in the next five years at least.

Second, the company has an extensive pipeline. Lilly recently reported positive phase 3 results for an oral GLP-1 candidate, orforglipron. This was an important win for the company since its current GLP-1 medicines are administered subcutaneously, so orforglipron could attract some patients who want a more convenient option. And there are many other exciting candidates, even beyond diabetes and obesity care.

Third, the company is an excellent dividend stock, despite its unimpressive forward yield of 0.8%. It has increased its payout by 102.7% in the past five years. But whether you seek growth or income, Eli Lilly is a top stock to buy now and hold for a long time, despite the threat of tariffs.

2. Novartis

Novartis is following a similar blueprint to mitigate the impact of tariffs. The company announced it would invest $23 billion in the next five years to improve its U.S.-based manufacturing footprint.

Although its results may suffer somewhat from the impact of tariffs in the meantime, the company should eventually be able to handle them, assuming the tariffs continue. It's another excellent healthcare stock to consider in this environment, particularly given its strong financial results and promising prospects.

In the first quarter, net sales increased by 12% to $13.2 billion year over year. Net income was $4.5 billion, 22% higher than the year-ago period.

Some might point out that Novartis is losing U.S. patent exclusivity for its heart failure medicine Entresto this year. In the first quarter, it was still its top-selling drug, generating $2.3 billion in sales, 20% higher than the prior-year quarter.

This will be a significant loss, but management has prepared for it. Newer medicines should eventually replace Entresto, including Fabhalta, which treats paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (a rare blood disease), and cancer drugs Scemblix and Pluvicto.

All of them first earned approval in the U.S. between 2021 and 2023. In the first quarter, Pluvicto, the best-selling of the trio, generated revenue of $371 million, a 20% year-over-year increase. Furthermore, Novartis' deep pipeline will lead to even more launches. The company currently has over 100 ongoing programs.

Lastly, Novartis is also a strong income stock. The drugmaker has increased its dividend for 28 consecutive years and currently offers a forward yield of 3.3%, significantly higher than the S&P 500's average yield of 1.3%.

It should deliver solid returns for patient investors, despite an upcoming major patent cliff and potential impacts from tariffs.

Should you invest $1,000 in Eli Lilly right now?

Before you buy stock in Eli Lilly, 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 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 $652,133!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,056,790!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,048% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% 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 July 15, 2025

Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Eli Lilly. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

A political effort to remove space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian and place it on display in Texas encountered some pushback on Thursday, as a US senator questioned the expense of carrying out what he described as a theft.

"This is not a transfer. It's a heist," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) during a budget markup hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee. "A heist by Texas because they lost a competition 12 years ago."

In April, Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, both representing Texas, introduced the "Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act" that called for Discovery to be relocated from the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia and displayed at Space Center Houston. They then inserted a provision into the Senate version of the "One Big Beautiful Bill," which, to comply with Senate rules, was more vaguely worded but was meant to achieve the same goal.

Read full article

Comments

• Eli Lilly has outpaced Ozempic-maker Novo Nordisk in the race to develop new incretin drugs.
• The company is set to capture 50% of the $95 billion obesity market by 2050.
• We got a glimpse into Eli Lilly's upcoming menu of metabolic drugs to treat obesity, preserve muscle, and more.

In sports, the best athletes compete against themselves. In the world of weight loss drugs, Eli Lilly is quickly becoming that all-star player that bests the competition every time.

"Lilly is the king. They're the king of the mountain," Deutsche Bank's James Shin, director of biopharma equity research, told Business Insider.

Investors are increasingly buzzing about the world's most valuable healthcare company, the one that they say has left its rivals in the dust.

Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, the company that developed Ozempic, initially seemed unbeatable in the new market for injectable diabetes and weight loss medications. But ever since 2022, when Eli Lilly's tirzepatide was first approved for use in the US, Lilly's been steadily gaining ground.

Now, the company is developing a menu of other obesity drugs that could cater to anyone. There's a pill for weight loss instead of an injection. There are drugs that tap into new appetite-regulating hormones; an antibody injection to protect muscles while burning up excess fat.

"Investors are starting to talk about Lilly on their own cue, rather than in the context of Novo," Asad Haider, Goldman Sachs's lead analyst for US pharmaceuticals, told BI. "They are at the forefront of almost every existing as well as emerging mechanism across anti-obesity, and it's going to be really hard, in our view, to leapfrog them."

So, we caught up with Eli Lilly Executive Vice President Ken Custer, the man overseeing it all. Custer is the new president of Lilly's cardiometabolic health division, and in a recent one-on-one with BI, he shared the strategy behind the company's success so far and how they plan to maintain their big lead in the long run.

Eli Lilly is set to dominate the market by 2030

Eli Lilly's tirzepatide, the drug currently leading the charge, is the strongest weight loss drug available so far. While Novo's Wegovy supercharges one of our hunger hormones (GLP-1), Lilly's Mounjaro has two (GLP-1 and GIP), making it a more powerful weekly shot to control appetite and blood sugar.

One recent head-to-head study showed patients who spent a year on tirzepatide lost, on average, about 15% of their body weight, while those on semaglutide (the drug in Ozempic) lost just 8%.

By 2030, Goldman is forecasting, conservatively, that Lilly will capture nearly 50% of the $95 billion anti-obesity medicine market. That forecast includes the injectable drugs we have now, like Mounjaro and Ozempic (for diabetes) plus Wegovy and Zepbound (for obesity) but may also extend to new drugs in the pipeline, both at Eli Lilly and coming from other drugmakers with smaller portfolios. But right now, Lilly seems to be ahead of the competition in just about every category.

In June, at the American Diabetes Association's big annual research conference (ADA), Lilly's updates from ongoing trials were "incrementally better" than investors had expected, Haider said.

"Then on the other side of that, a lot of their late-stage competition — specifically Novo Nordisk, but also Amgen — the updates that you got from them at ADA had a little bit more hair on them, and were frankly met with more disappointment."

1. Speed: 'This ratchet mindset' drives Lilly to develop drugs faster and faster

Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks shared some of the secrets behind the big speed up that's shifted the company from an 11-year average time to market (when he first became CEO in 2017) to a six-year average now.

"We really track things very carefully on speed," Ricks said in an interview last October on the "All-In" podcast. "The big idea is like this ratchet mindset that every time we beat a timeline, that becomes the new norm. We just re-benchmark internally."

Case in point: It took about two decades to get Trulicity, Eli Lilly's first GLP-1 drug, on the market. Tirzepatide? About eight years — "blistering speed," Custer said.

2. Convenience: a cheap(er) pill to rival Ozempic

Eli Lilly is in the late stages of developing the first Ozempic-like pill, designed to be just as strong as Novo's injectable drug. The drug, orforglipron, could be available as early as 2026.

There are only about 8 million people currently on Mounjaro, Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound in the US, which speaks to both the high cost of the injectable drugs and the supply bottlenecks.

"The injectable GLP-1s are wonderful medicines, but manufacturing those medicines is hard," Custer said. "The factories that you have to use to do the sterile filling of the vials, the syringes, the devices, the cartridges are extraordinarily hard to build and operate."

Custer believes a daily pill could completely change the game — opening up this new class of hormone-mimicking weight loss and diabetes drugs called incretins to hundreds of millions more people across the globe.

"I think we're at a defining moment in our company's history," Custer said. He added that he sees this as "a generational opportunity that is probably close to what was seen with the early days of vaccines and antibiotics."

Eli Lilly is already manufacturing hundreds of thousands of orforglipron pills, just to make sure it will be able to meet the demand if the drug is approved for use in the US next year. That's a somewhat risky move, considering that the company's final Phase 3 clinical trials that the US Food and Drug administration requires to evaluate the drug aren't even done yet. If approved, orforglipron should also (thankfully) have a more pronounceable brand name.

Expect the cost of the pill to rival a "fancy gym membership," Shin said, meaning maybe around $300 for one month — a quarter of the cost of some injectable weight-loss drugs.

Other companies' attempts to develop a new weight loss pill have been lackluster. Pfizer ditched its obesity pill candidate earlier this year, while Novo Nordisk's pill version of semaglutide, called Rybelsus, is not nearly as effective as Ozempic: Most patients on the pill lose less than 5% of their body weight, while people using the weekly shot can often achieve 10-15% weight loss, or more.

3. Creating a laundry list of new options to get ahead

The north star of Eli Lilly's strategy now is variety — developing a broader range of options for consumers than any of their competitors.

"If you have a billion people around the world or more living with overweight or obesity, they're not all going to be helped by one medicine," Custer said. "We see this segmenting it into several logical categories."

The shift is already underway to find new weight loss options that will harness different hunger hormones (like amylin), use new routes of administration (pills or IVs instead of just injection pens), and have different dosing schedules (daily, weekly, or monthly).

"They're trying to address every type of patient," Shin said.

Here's the menu, beyond orforglipron:

• Bimagrumab: Looking to protect muscle while you lose fat? This is an Eli Lilly drug which may become available after orforglipron, if the mid-stage trials go well in the next couple of years.

  In the most recent trial results, the company shared on bimagrumab at ADA, patients on the drug achieved 100% fat loss, essentially preserving all their muscles. This idea of making sure patients lose the right kind of weight — not compromising their strength just to slim down — is the holy grail in incretin drug development right now, generating tons of buzz and investment.

• Retatrutide: If it's more powerful drugs you're after, then there's the "king kong" triple agonist that the company has been working on. It won't likely be ready to approve until late 2026, at the very earliest, but in clinical trials, it has shown weight loss on par with bariatric surgery, and some patients have lost more than a third of their total body weight, requiring entirely new wardrobes.
• Eloralintide: Finally, there's Lilly's investigational drug that mimics amylin, another metabolism-regulating hormone. It's still early days for eloralintide and for amylin medications in general. So it's possible that competitors like Novo Nordisk or Amgen could develop a compelling amylin drug before Eli Lilly does.

"What's exciting is we feel like we're leading in most, if not all of those categories, but we'll come up with new categories," Custer said. "It is really about tailoring. I think bimagrumab and eloralintide and retatrutide and orforglipron are really the first part of that story, but of course, we have other ideas we're working on as well."

Investors want in on that action. Both Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank sent BI disclosure statements for this story, because they each have a financial relationship with Eli Lilly (I challenge you, dear reader, to find a major investment bank that does not).

In the long run, Eli Lilly is thinking ahead to a day when this class of medications could even treat conditions beyond metabolism and heart health, including dementia, inflammation, substance abuse, and pain. (Scientists are starting to study whether incretin drugs might treat migraines, for example).

"It may be even in the future, when you're checking out at Kroger, in addition to the 'get your annual flu vaccine,' you see a sign that says 'get your annual metabolic shot,'" Custer said.

Key Points

• Eli Lilly is a leader in the weight loss drug market, generating blockbuster revenue.

• Viking Therapeutics recently launched a phase 3 trial for its weight loss candidate -- and could have a promising future in the market.

Though you may think "tech stocks" when someone mentions growth, you actually can find growth stocks throughout a wide variety of industries. Even those like pharmaceuticals, often known for the steadiness of their earnings, may, through certain specialty areas, offer you the opportunity for explosive growth. And today, the perfect example is weight loss drugs.

Today's $28 billion weight loss drug market is on track to reach nearly $100 billion by 2030, according to Goldman Sachs Research, offering companies in the space an extremely solid opportunity over the next several years and likely beyond.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Two names that have been making headlines in this field are Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) and Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX). The former is a current leader, already selling two blockbuster drugs prescribed for weight loss, and the latter is an up-and-coming player, with a candidate in late-stage trials. Which is the better growth buy today? Let's find out.

Image source: Getty Images.

The case for Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly shares weight loss drug market leadership with fellow big pharma player Novo Nordisk. They each commercialize two drugs prescribed to people aiming to lose weight and have brought in billions of dollars in annual revenue. Here, I'll focus on Lilly.

The company's drugs, Mounjaro and Zepbound, are actually the same compound, tirzepatide. But it's sold under the name Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes and under the name Zepbound for weight loss. The drug acts by stimulating hormonal pathways involved in the control of blood sugar levels and appetite. Thanks to the efficacy of tirzepatide, demand has soared, even surpassing supply until Lilly expanded its production capacity.

But Lilly isn't sitting still in the area of weight loss. The company also is developing other drug candidates that may improve upon tirzepatide. The closest to market right now is orforglipron, Lilly's oral candidate for weight loss that recently delivered positive phase 3 trial results. If approved, it would be the only oral weight loss drug of its class that doesn't require strict food and water restrictions. Lilly aims on applying for regulatory review by the end of this year.

All of this could result in more growth for Lilly this year and well into the future.

The case for Viking Therapeutics

Viking Therapeutics is a biotech company specializing in metabolic conditions, and it's made great progress with its obesity drug candidate, VK2735. The potential drug, in subcutaneous form, recently entered a phase 3 trial, and an oral form is involved in a phase 2 trial. These candidates are in the same class as tirzepatide, so work in the same way.

Investors have shown their excitement about Viking's program in the past: When the company reported positive phase 2 data for the subcutaneous VK2735 last year, the stock soared more than 120% in one trading session. The stock hasn't maintained those gains, but the movement shows that investors are interested in the program -- and more good news ahead could boost the stock again.

Now you might wonder why investors are so excited about Viking if there already are other successful weight loss drugs on the market -- and Lilly even is likely to reach commercialization with an oral weight loss drug ahead of Viking. This is because demand is high, and this is set to continue, so there is plenty of room for more than a couple of companies to succeed in the space. Investors also have speculated about the idea of a big pharma company acquiring Viking to get in on this high growth market.

Should you buy the pharma leader or the biotech challenger?

Lilly has the first-to-market advantage, is closer to the finish line with an oral candidate, and already is generating major revenue from its weight loss portfolio. Viking, if successful through clinical trials, could carve out market share and deliver major revenue growth down the road -- or the company could be acquired, offering investors another way to potentially gain.

Each company offers certain advantages. Now let's answer our question. If all goes well for Viking, it could represent the better growth buy as, starting from zero product revenue today, this player could see revenue soar if and when it brings a weight loss drug to market. And we've seen that Viking's stock price is very reactive to news, meaning the stock could skyrocket in such a scenario. But, if you go the Viking route, you should be comfortable with risk as uncertainty remains: The company hasn't yet reached the finish line with a product.

If you're more of a cautious investor, though, don't worry. You may opt for Lilly as, even though it's climbed 140% over the past three years, it still could have plenty of room to run over the long term thanks to this weight loss drug growth story.

Should you invest $1,000 in Eli Lilly right now?

Before you buy stock in Eli Lilly, 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 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 $699,558!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $976,677!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% 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 June 30, 2025

Adria Cimino has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Goldman Sachs Group. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk and Viking Therapeutics. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Key Points

• Investing in attractive dividend growth stocks can lead to superior long-term returns.

• The two healthcare companies below generally deliver excellent returns and dividend growth.

• Both have long-term tailwinds that can allow them to maintain solid performances over the long run.

For investors focused on the long game, there is little reason to sell -- at least, so long as a company generates solid returns through consistently improving financial results, regularly increases its dividend (if it pays one), and maintains strong growth prospects. Although it's sometimes difficult to find corporations that can do all that over long periods, stocks of this caliber do exist.

Consider the following two healthcare leaders: Zoetis (NYSE: ZTS) and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY). They have checked all of those boxes over the past decade, and there are good reasons to believe they can continue to do so for a very long time, making them excellent "forever" stocks. Read on to learn more about these companies.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Zoetis

Zoetis is a leading animal health company with a diverse portfolio of products spanning various categories, including livestock, companion animals, and more. The company has 15 products that generate over $100 million in annual sales and consistently grows its revenue at a rate faster than most of its peers. Between 2014 and 2023, the company's top line increased at a compound annual growth rate of 8%, compared to the 5% the industry average.

The company has encountered some headwinds recently. Most notably, recent drug approvals by competitors could challenge the market share of one of Zoetis' most significant growth drivers, Apoquel, which helps treat allergic itch in dogs. Even so, Zoetis has dealt with competition for years and has still performed well. Although this issue may somewhat affect its results in the short term, the company's prospects look attractive for several reasons. First, Zoetis will continue to launch newer products.

It has proven itself to be an innovative leader in the animal health industry. Some of Zoetis' recent approvals, such as Solensia (first approved in 2022) and Librela (first approved in 2023) -- which treat osteoarthritis pain in cats and dogs, respectively -- are already helping drive sales growth. There will undoubtedly be plenty more such commercial launches in the future.

In the long run, Zoetis will benefit from the growth in the pet population, which has been ongoing for several decades in countries like the U.S., as well as other trends such as increased demand for protein sources due to human population growth, resulting in a greater need for products that help care for livestock. Zoetis can ride these tailwinds for a very long time.

Finally, the company offers a solid dividend program, despite a forward yield of just 1.3%, which is equal to the average yield for the S&P 500 index. Still, Zoetis' payouts have increased by an impressive 502% over the past decade. Yet its payout ratio of 31.6% remains conservative. There is ample space for more dividend hikes for Zoetis. Expect the company to offer consistent payouts and solid returns over the long run.

2. Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly has garnered significant attention in the past five years for its work in weight management, but the company has also quietly increased its dividends at a steady pace. The drugmaker's payouts have doubled over the past five years. That's not surprising. Eli Lilly's business seems to be firing on all cylinders. Revenue and earnings have been growing rapidly. The company's first-quarter top line jumped 45% year over year to $12.7 billion.

Most similarly sized pharmaceutical leaders would be thrilled to increase their revenue by a third of that percentage. That speaks volumes about Eli Lilly. And while its recent clinical and regulatory successes in the anti-obesity space are doing most of the heavy lifting, the company isn't a one-trick pony. Eli Lilly has blockbuster medicines in other areas, such as immunology -- with Taltz -- and oncology, thanks to Verzenio.

Even the company's pipeline is diversified across multiple therapeutic areas. It has recent approvals, too. Such products as Kisunla, which treats Alzheimer's disease, could eventually generate more than $1 billion in annual sales. Here's the point: Eli Lilly is an incredibly innovative company with a leadership position in diabetes and obesity, as well as significant footprints in other fields. The company is well positioned to develop new and improved products while generating above-average returns over the long term.

That's why dividend investors shouldn't be turned off by the company's low 0.8% forward yield. Eli Lilly's solid track record and modest cash payout ratio of 44% tell us plenty. That, combined with Eli Lilly's strong underlying business, makes it an attractive buy-and-hold option.

Should you invest $1,000 in Eli Lilly right now?

Before you buy stock in Eli Lilly, 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 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 $699,558!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $976,677!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% 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 June 30, 2025

Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Eli Lilly. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Zoetis. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

• As a former Hermès employee, I saw customers make some common mistakes when shopping in-store.
• It's important to understand that most shoppers can't just walk in and buy a Birkin bag.
• Customers should have a good relationship with their sales associate, but they shouldn't bug them.

I spent two years working in retail marketing and visual merchandising at Hermés.

The French fashion house has been around for nearly two centuries and specializes in leather goods, though it might be best known for its coveted Birkin bags.

These high-ticket items, which can cost thousands and are often carried by celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez, are offered to only a select number of the retailer's customers.

When I worked at Hermès, I learned a lot about the brand and how to score its most-coveted products. I've since transitioned to a career in sourcing luxury goods — and I'm no stranger to locating the brand's famous designer bags for my own clients.

Here are a few mistakes I saw customers make while shopping at Hermès.

Many shoppers think they can walk in and score a high-ticket item

Similar to other luxury brands like Porsche, Hermès uses scarcity marketing — a concept in which consumers value a product when there's a limited supply or availability.

This means most customers cannot simply walk into a boutique and purchase the brand's highest-ticket items, like a Kelly or Birkin bag.

Birkin bags are so sought after that even its Walmart lookalikes are selling out.

If shoppers want to increase their chances of being able to buy the real thing, they should "build a profile" or establish a consistent buying history with the store.

This can be done by making entry-level purchases and working with a single, designated sales associate over time. After all, sales associates can play a major role in deciding who gets one of these coveted bags.

I recommend buying items in a diverse mix of categories. In my experience, the highest-commission categories for sales associates include homeware, fine jewelry, elaborate textiles, and exotic, ready-to-wear pieces.

Purchasing these items can enhance your profile and help you stand out to a sales associate.

Refrain from acting rude or indifferent, and remember to maintain a professional demeanor

At Hermès, entitlement and rude behavior are the biggest no-gos. I've even seen negative attitudes prohibit clients from future boutique visits.

I recommend keeping a positive attitude, cultivating curiosity when in a boutique, and engaging with a sales associate as you would with anyone in a professional setting.

I'd also be mindful that sales associates are there to make a living and provide an exclusive, luxury experience. After all, this is supposed to be a mutually beneficial relationship.

Don't put too much pressure on your sales associate

Navigating the Hermès shopping experience is a lot like managing a business relationship. In many boutiques, sales associates share their contact details with customers.

However, many people tend to take this as a sign to inundate them with questions. Instead, I recommend customers visit a boutique at their convenience and ask about the potential timeline for a high-ticket item as they shop for other goods.

If texting or calling are your only ways to engage with a sales associate, use these methods to inquire about lower-ticket items you're interested in seeing when you visit.

I've found a lot of customers have unrealistic expectations

Some customers come in focused solely on coveting the one high-ticket item they saw all over social media.

However, I think two key points are crucial in navigating the Hermès shopping experience. First, keep in mind that sales associates value clients who engage with the brand and show genuine interest in the Hermès heritage.

Secondly, in my experience, sales associates don't earn a commission on bags like the Kelly and Birkin. Therefore, it may be wise to explore lesser-known areas within the brand, such as home goods, fragrances, or equestrian items your sales associate recommends.

This way, you'll be putting commission money in your sales associate's pocket, and they may feel more inclined to help you work your way to a coveted bag.

Don't switch between different sales associates or locations

Working your way toward a coveted bag at Hermès can feel like a high-stakes mental game. Customers often have to visit a boutique multiple times, so the path to owning these items can be lengthy.

Unfortunately, I've seen customers try to game the system by visiting multiple boutiques or switching between sales associates in one location.

However, I recommend staying loyal to one associate and boutique, as some stores may prioritize their most devoted clients.

This story was originally published on January 3, 2025 and most recently updated on June 20, 2025.

Shares in Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VERV) soared 80.5% this week on the news of an agreement for Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) to acquire Verve. The deal centers on an exciting cardiovascular health medicine program, VERVE-102.

What is VERVE-102?

It's easy to see why Lilly is excited about the program. VERVE-102 targets the PCSK9 gene, aiming to deactivate it in the liver, and achieves this with a single infusion. Given that PCSK9 binds to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (often called "bad" cholesterol) receptors and prevents them from recycling to the cell surface, it follows that inhibiting PCSK9 will improve the body's ability to remove bad cholesterol.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

The initial results from the phase 1b trial give cause for optimism. According to Verve's press release:

• "VERVE-102 was well-tolerated, with no treatment-related serious adverse events (SAEs) and no clinically significant laboratory abnormalities observed" across 14 patients given three different dose levels.
• Dose dependency was established, with the lowest dose (0.3mg/kg) patients achieving a "mean reduction in blood LDL-C of 21%," rising to 41% at the 0.45mg/kg dose, and 53% at the 0.6mg/kg dose.

Image source: Getty Images.

Terms of the Lilly/Verve agreement

Lilly is offering:

• $10.50 per share for all the outstanding shares
• Plus a nontradable contingent value right (CVR) that pays up to $3 per share upon "the first patient being dosed with VERVE-102 for ASCVD in a U.S. phase 3 clinical trial on or prior to the tenth anniversary of closing or termination of the CVR."

The share price is $11.12 as I write, implying that the market is willing to pay $0.62 for the CVR, suggesting a 21% chance that Lily will take VERVE-102 to a stage 3 trial -- a reasonable assumption for a novel medicine under a major pharmaceutical company.

Should you invest $1,000 in Verve Therapeutics right now?

Before you buy stock in Verve 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 Verve 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 $659,171!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $891,722!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 995% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 172% 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 June 9, 2025

Lee Samaha has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Yesterday, Microsoft confirmed that it's not abandoning the home console market just yet. In a short video teaser, Xbox President Sarah Bond highlighted a "strategic multi-year partnership with AMD" that will include "our next-generation Xbox consoles in your living room and in your hands." But while we know that the "in your hands" part will include devices like the Windows-powered ROG Xbox Ally, there are still few specifics about what exactly Microsoft has planned for its future living room consoles (aside from what Bond calls "the next generation of graphics innovation").

Reading between the lines a bit, though, we wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft was getting ready to finally tear down the thinning wall separating gaming PCs and gaming consoles. A Windows-based, living room-focused Xbox capable of running generic Windows games could accentuate Microsoft's strengths in PC gaming while papering over many of the company's recent struggles in the home console market.

WindowsBox

The once-bright line separating PC gaming and TV-based console gaming has been deteriorating for years. On the hardware side, bespoke console chips and development environments long ago gave way to PC-like architectures that are simpler and easier for developers to work with. And on the PC interface side, efforts like Steam's Big Picture mode and SteamOS as a whole have strived to make playing on a PC with a handheld controller into a more console-like experience.

Read full article

Comments

One weakness of Valve's Steam Deck gaming handheld and SteamOS is that, by default, they will only run Windows games from Steam that are supported by the platform's Proton compatibility layer (plus the subset of games that run natively on Linux). It's possible to install alternative game stores, and Proton's compatibility is generally impressive, but SteamOS still isn't a true drop-in replacement for Windows.

Microsoft and Asus' co-developed ROG Xbox Ally is trying to offer PC gamers a more comprehensive compatibility solution that also preserves a SteamOS-like handheld UI by putting a new Xbox-branded user interface on top of traditional Windows. And while this interface will roll out to the ROG Xbox Ally first, Microsoft told The Verge that the interface would come to other Ally handhelds next and that something "similar" would be "rolling out to other Windows handhelds starting next year."

Bringing a Steam Deck-style handheld-optimized user interface to Windows is something Microsoft has been experimenting with internally since at least 2022, when employees at an internal hackathon identified most of Windows' handheld deficiencies in a slide deck about a proposed "Windows Handheld Mode."

Read full article

Comments

With the stock market settling in after a volatile period, now is a good time to start looking at some leading growth stocks that have strong potential over the next decade.

Here are five growth stocks across industries that investors can look to hold for the long term.

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM) is one of the most critical players in the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. As the world's leading contract chip manufacturer, TSMC manufactures the advanced semiconductors powering a range of products from AI infrastructure to smartphones and automotive tech.

Producing these chips isn't easy, as it requires leading-edge technology, precision manufacturing, and scale. Few companies in the world have the capabilities or the track record that TSMC does, and with competitors struggling, it has also garnered strong pricing power.

As such, the company has become the go-to partner for top chip designers, thanks to its leadership in advanced nodes and packaging. Advanced nodes refer to manufacturing processes that allow more transistors to be packed onto a chip, which in turn boosts performance and power efficiency.

Meanwhile, demand for high-performance computing, including AI chips, has exploded. With AI workloads growing, TSMC is expanding capacity alongside key customers to meet future demand.

Despite its pivotal role in the AI supply chain, TSMC's stock still looks reasonably valued. For long-term investors looking to benefit from the continued growth in AI infrastructure and semiconductors in general, TSMC is a great stock to hold.

2. Pinterest

Pinterest (NYSE: PINS) has undergone a quiet but powerful transformation under CEO Bill Ready. Over the past three years, the company has invested heavily in technology to turn its massive user base, which now sits at more than 570 million monthly active users worldwide, into a growth engine. Pinterest is no longer just an online vision board; it's become a shoppable platform with growing ad conversion capabilities.

One of the big drivers behind Pinterest's transformation has been its embrace of AI. The company built a multimodal model trained on both images and text to better understand what users are looking for. This powers personalized recommendations, while a visual search feature makes it easier for users to find and shop for products they see in pinned images. On the backend, meanwhile, its Performance+ platform is giving advertisers the tools to run better campaigns.

The results speak for themselves. Last quarter, Pinterest's revenue jumped 16%. Average revenue per user (ARPU) climbed across all regions, especially outside the U.S., where Pinterest is starting to better monetize users in emerging markets through the help of a partnership with Google.

Pinterest's stock still looks attractively valued, and the company is just scratching the surface of monetizing its user base. With AI-powered tools and a more shoppable platform, Pinterest has solid long-term investment potential.

3. Dutch Bros

Dutch Bros (NYSE: BROS) is shaping up to be one of the most compelling expansion stories in the restaurant space. With just over 1,000 locations across 18 states, the company believes it can more than double its footprint to 2,029 shops by 2029, and it sees the opportunity to eventually support 7,000 coffee shops nationwide.

Meanwhile, its small, drive-thru-focused shops are inexpensive to build, have attractive unit economics, and offer fast payback periods.

What makes the story even more attractive, though, is that Dutch Bros is only now starting to unlock other key growth levers. Mobile ordering, for example, is still early but gaining traction, accounting for only 11% of transactions last quarter. Mobile ordering also feeds into its loyalty program, allowing it to personalize its marketing and promotions.

The company is also leaning into food, testing hot items to drive breakfast sales at a few select locations. Food currently makes up less than 2% of sales, compared to nearly 20% at Starbucks, so there's real upside here. With more menu expansion and store openings on the way, Dutch Bros looks like a long-term winner.

4. Philip Morris International

Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) is a growth stock in a defensive industry. While many tobacco companies are struggling with declining cigarette volumes in the U.S., Philip Morris doesn't have to worry about that because it doesn't sell cigarettes domestically. Instead, its growth is being driven by its smokeless portfolio, led by Zyn and Iqos, both of which have better unit economics than traditional cigarettes.

Zyn, its fast-growing nicotine pouch, has been its biggest growth driver, as evidenced by U.S. shipment volumes jumping 53% in Q1.

Meanwhile, Iqos, its premium heated tobacco product, continues to gain traction in Europe and Japan, with early success in new markets like Mexico City, Jakarta, and Seoul. In addition, after buying back its U.S. rights from Altria, the U.S. has the potential to be its next big growth driver. At the same time, its traditional cigarette business remains stable overseas, helped by strong pricing power and steady demand.

With strong pricing power, local manufacturing that limits tariff exposure, and growing demand for Zyn and Iqos, Philip Morris looks well positioned to keep delivering strong growth in the future.

5. Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) has emerged as a leader in the booming GLP-1 drug space, with surging demand continuing to drive strong revenue growth. Last quarter, its two key GLP-1 drugs -- Mounjaro and Zepbound -- generated a combined $6.1 billion in revenue, up sharply year over year. While Zepbound is officially approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for weight loss in obese adults or overweight adults with at least one weight-related condition, and Mounjaro is approved to help adults with type 2 diabetes, the reality is that the growth of these drugs is being driven by their being prescribed off-label for weight loss.

However, the drug that could be the biggest game changer for Lilly is still on its way. Orforglipron, its first oral GLP-1 drug candidate, recently demonstrated in a phase 3 trial that patients who took the drug lost considerable weight. As an oral medication, it is a much more convenient alternative to injectable GLP-1 drugs, making it especially appealing to patients who are wary of needles.

Orforglipron is also easier to manufacture and distribute than injectable drugs, as it doesn't require cold storage or injection pens. This should help Lilly avoid the supply constraints it saw with its injectable GLP-1 portfolio. With orforglipron looking like it has the potential to be the most potent oral GLP-1 weight loss drug on the market, Lilly is well positioned for continued future growth.

Should you invest $1,000 in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing right now?

Before you buy stock in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, 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 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing 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 $669,517!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $868,615!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 173% 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 June 2, 2025

Geoffrey Seiler has positions in Philip Morris International and Pinterest. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Pinterest and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool recommends Dutch Bros and Philip Morris International. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Back in March, we outlined six features we wanted to see on what was then just a rumored Xbox-branded, Windows-powered handheld gaming device. Today, Microsoft's announcement of the Asus ROG Xbox Ally hardware line looks like it fulfills almost all of our wishes for Microsoft's biggest foray into portable gaming yet.

The Windows-11-powered Xbox Ally devices promise access to "all of the games available on Windows," including "games from Xbox, Game Pass, Battle.net, and other leading PC storefronts [read: Steam, Epic Games Store, Ubisoft Connect, etc]." But instead of having to install and boot up those games through the stock Windows interface, as you often do on handhelds like the original ROG Ally line, all these games will be available through what Microsoft is calling an "aggregated gaming library."

Asus and Microsoft are stressing how that integrated experience can be used with games across multiple different Windows-based launchers, promising "access to games you can't get elsewhere." That could be seen as a subtle dig at SteamOS-powered devices like the Steam Deck, which can have significant trouble with certain titles that don't play well with Steam and/or Linux for one reason or another. Microsoft also highlights how support apps like Discord, Twitch, and downloadable game mods will also be directly available via the Xbox Ally's Windows backbone.

Read full article

Comments

With the second quarter of 2025 now over a month old, many investment funds will soon begin disclosing what stocks they held at the end of the first quarter, essentially providing investors a glimpse of what they bought and sold. It's a particularly interesting time to see how large institutional funds invested early in the year, given all of the volatility.

First-quarter filings won't show what the market did in April, following President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" announcement on April 2. But they offer an important glimpse of how investors were approaching tariffs, as well as high valuations in the broader market, particularly for the artificial intelligence (AI) giants.

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 »

Another thing happened in the first quarter with a major institutional shareholder. The Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) -- the sixth-largest pension fund for teachers in the U.S. -- cut its stake in Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). But it piled into a popular pharmaceutical stock that's up 419% over the last five years.

Selling big tech and AI

While we don't know when the TRS fund sold during the quarter, we do know that the fund cut its stake in several of its largest holdings, some of the most popular stocks in the market:

• Its stake in Apple: cut by 12%
• Its stake in Nvidia: cut by 9%
• Its stake in Tesla: cut by 8%

It's not clear whether the portfolio managers were cutting the fund's tech exposure across the board, or specifically targeting these names. But they seemed to have made a timely call, given what happened to these three stocks in the first quarter of the year:

TSLA data by YCharts.

Nvidia and many other AI stocks ran into trouble earlier this year when the Chinese tech company DeepSeek managed to build a chatbot rivaling OpenAI's ChatGPT, reportedly using less advanced chips and spending much less than OpenAI. There's still much debate over the level of resources that went into DeepSeek's model, but investors nevertheless began to question overall AI demand as well as massive capital expenditure plans by the hyperscalers driving AI.

Tesla faltered as CEO Elon Musk got more involved in politics, specifically with his work on the initiative known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Reports of falling demand for Tesla vehicles globally made analysts question whether Musk's outspokenness had hurt the brand. Furthermore, given Tesla's high valuation, the company needs to execute on future initiatives, including autonomous driving and robotics.

Apple shares fell the least among these three in the first quarter, but perhaps investors should have been more concerned, given how much manufacturing the consumer tech giant does in China and Vietnam. Shares fell hard after April 2 but rebounded following Trump's 90-day pause on higher tariff rates. The Trump administration has temporarily exempted consumer electronics made in China from tariffs, although any renewal of those would not work in Apple's favor.

Image source: Getty Images.

Piling into this classic pharma play

While TRS cut a number of its top positions, it also increased its stake in the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) by 11% in the quarter. Lilly, which first went public in 1951, has risen 395% (as of May 6) over the last five years, rivaling the strong performances of many tech and AI stocks.

Well-known as the first company to commercialize insulin, Eli Lilly has performed well in recent years. This is largely due to the performance of its GLP-1 drugs, which help people looking to manage diabetes type 2 and to lose weight. One of Eli Lilly's premier drugs, Mounjaro, which helps people with type 2 diabetes manage their blood sugar, had its revenue rocket 113% higher year over year in the first quarter of 2025. Zepbound, a drug that helps people manage their appetites and ultimately eat less, increased its sales 347% year over year.

The company also continues to make progress in new drug development. CEO David Ricks noted in an earnings statement that Lilly received regulatory approval for several oncology and immunology drugs, and continues to see success in later-stage studies for its drugs related to diabetes and obesity. It's investing further in development and planning to construct four new manufacturing facilities. Management also reaffirmed its full-year revenue guidance of $58 billion to $61 billion of revenue, and expects a performance margin in the range of 40.5% to 42.5%.

While tech has dominated the investing landscape for several years, it's always a good idea for investors to buy stocks in a variety of sectors to add diversity to their portfolios. Eli Lilly is a rare large-cap and stable pharmaceutical stock, whose returns have rivaled those of even some of the most headline-grabbing AI innovators.

Should you invest $1,000 in Eli Lilly right now?

Before you buy stock in Eli Lilly, 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 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 $623,103!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $717,471!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 909% — 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 Stock Advisor.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of May 5, 2025

Bram Berkowitz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Nvidia, and Tesla. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Any time is a great time to buy stocks -- if you pick the right stocks. That's true even in May, a month where some investors have traditionally opted to take a break from the stock market for the summer.

Three Motley Fool contributors think they've found no-brainer healthcare stocks to buy in May. Here's why they picked Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO), and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX).

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Image source: Getty Images.

An unstoppable growth stock with plenty of runway

David Jagielski (Eli Lilly): One of the best growth stocks you can buy in the healthcare sector today is Eli Lilly. The company has experienced a surge in revenue in recent years, thanks in large part to its GLP-1 offerings, Zepbound and Wegovy, which are still in the early stages of their growth.

Just a few years ago, the company was coming off a lackluster performance in 2022, when sales totaled less than $29 billion and showed minimal growth from the previous year. Last year, however, its top line jumped to more than $45 billion, growing by 58% in a span of just two years.

It's no mystery why, either. Zepbound, which was approved as a weight loss treatment in late 2023, began contributing in a big way to the company's top line, generating $4.9 billion in revenue last year. Meanwhile, Mounjaro, which is approved for the treatment of diabetes, more than doubled its sales to $11.5 billion, becoming Eli Lilly's top-selling drug in the process. Trulicity, once the center of Eli Lilly's portfolio, fell by 26% with sales totaling $5.3 billion last year.

But with Eli Lilly focusing on a highly lucrative GLP-1 drug market, those gains can more than outweigh any declines that its other products experience. Currently, the company is working on what may be an even bigger opportunity: a weight loss pill. Late-stage trial results involving orforglipron have been encouraging, and it may obtain approval by next year.

Although Eli Lilly is worth $800 billion and may seem expensive, trading at over 75 times its trailing earnings, this growth stock looks unstoppable and could easily hit a $1 trillion valuation within the next year or two, given its impressive results.

Buy the dip on this excellent stock

Prosper Junior Bakiny (Novo Nordisk): It wasn't that long ago that Novo Nordisk seemed almost unstoppable. The Denmark-based pharmaceutical leader's revenue and earnings were flying high while it delivered market-crushing returns. That has changed over the past 18 months, or at least the part about superior stock market returns. Novo Nordisk encountered clinical setbacks with what were previously thought to be promising pipeline candidates.

However, there remain excellent reasons to invest in Novo Nordisk. The company is still a leader -- perhaps the leader -- in diabetes and obesity care. Despite recent clinical setbacks, the company's pipeline in this field is incredibly deep. There is an excellent chance Novo Nordisk will redeem itself in the next few years. Furthermore, Novo Nordisk's financial results remain strong. Perhaps some of that success was already baked into the stock price before the recent sell-off. But after dropping by almost 50% over the trailing-12-month period, Novo Nordisk's shares now look far more attractively priced.

Lastly, Novo Nordisk is developing products outside its core area of endocrine-related disorders. That's a great move, considering the increased competition in the weight management market, which, by the way, should still grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years. Novo Nordisk's pipeline features investigational drugs across various areas, including rare blood diseases, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, and others.

Novo Nordisk may have lagged behind the market over the past year, but it still has attractive long-term prospects. The stock looks like a no-brainer at current levels, at least for investors willing to hold on to its shares for a while.

This big biotech stock should continue beating the market

Keith Speights (Vertex Pharmaceuticals): You wouldn't know that the stock market has been in turmoil by looking at Vertex Pharmaceuticals' performance. The big biotech stock has soared roughly 24% year to date. I think Vertex will continue beating the market.

The main reason for my optimism over the near term is the tremendous commercial potential for Vertex's new pain medication, Journavx. This non-opioid drug won U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval on Jan. 30 for treating moderate to severe acute pain. Vertex already has strong early momentum with payers. I don't expect it will take long for Journavx to become a blockbuster drug for the company.

Journavx isn't the only reason I'm bullish about Vertex, though. The biotech innovator has another new product on the market: cystic fibrosis (CF) therapy Alyftrek. Vertex has the only approved therapies for treating the underlying cause of CF. Alyfrek offers a more convenient dosing than the company's current top-selling drug, Kaftrio/Trikafta. It should also be more profitable for Vertex because of its lower royalty burden.

Gene-editing therapy Casgevy hasn't moved the needle much for the company yet after securing FDA approvals for treating sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia in late 2023 and early 2024, respectively. However, the CRISPR gene-editing process Casgevy uses is complex. Vertex believes the commercial momentum is building and that Casgevy has a multibillion-dollar opportunity.

Don't overlook Vertex's pipeline, either. The company has four programs in phase 3 testing, all of which have the potential to be big winners. I'm especially watching the progress of zimislecel, an islet cell therapy that could cure severe type 1 diabetes. Success for zimislecel should bode well for VX-264, which doesn't require immunosuppressants and could be used in a larger patient population.

Should you invest $1,000 in Eli Lilly right now?

Before you buy stock in Eli Lilly, 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 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 $623,685!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $701,781!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 906% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 164% 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

David Jagielski has positions in Novo Nordisk. Keith Speights has positions in Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO), the Danish drugmaker of GLP-1 weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, slipped 2% through 10:30 a.m. ET Friday after suffering a one-two punch from Reuters and a bank analyst.

On Thursday, Reuters reported weak U.S. prescription data is contributing to investor concerns that Novo Nordisk is no longer a growth stock. Taking a quick cue from the report, Singapore's DBS Bank has flipped 180 degrees, cutting its rating on Novo Nordisk stock from "buy" all the way to "sell."

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 »

Everybody hates Novo Nordisk

Let's start with the Reuters report. Ever "since launching its wildly popular weight-loss drug Wegovy in 2021," says Reuters, Novo has trained investors to expect the company's earnings reports to feature regular updates of new and improved sales guidance. In February, however, the company said sales will grow only 16% to 24% this year, which is "a much slower pace than in the past few years."

Reuters cites IQVIA data to show that "U.S. Wegovy prescriptions have plateaued since mid-February," versus Eli Lilly's (NYSE: LLY) competing Zepbound GLP-1 drug, which is taking market share from Novo. Adding to Novo's misery, clinical trial data on the company's new CagriSema drug, which was supposed to be even better than Wegovy and Ozempic, isn't measuring up.

Result: Investors are now bracing for bad news when Novo Nordisk reports its Q1 earnings on May 7.

Is Novo Nordisk stock a sell?

Digesting all this news, DBS Bank concludes Novo Nordisk's run is done and that it's time to sell the stock. This morning, The Fly reports that DBS has downgraded Novo stock all the way from buy to sell and set a price target of 330 Danish krone -- about $50.28 -- on the stock. That's about 18% below where Novo stock trades today.

I disagree.

Priced at 18.2 times earnings today, Novo looks to me more than fairly priced for a 16%-to-24% growth rate. In fact, it might even be cheap. The best time to buy Novo Nordisk might actually be right now, when everybody else seems to hate it.

Should you invest $1,000 in Novo Nordisk right now?

Before you buy stock in Novo Nordisk, 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 Novo Nordisk 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 $591,533!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $652,319!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 859% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 158% 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 21, 2025

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

Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) has been growing its sales at a good clip over the past year. This is partly thanks to Zepbound, a weight loss medicine that's already generating more than $1 billion in quarterly sales, although it was approved only in late 2023.

Zepbound's prospects still look bright, but some recent developments point to another weight loss drug that could become yet another powerful growth driver for Lilly. Let's look deeper into the pharmaceutical giant's latest clinical win and what it could mean for investors.

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 »

Eli Lilly breaks new ground -- again

The active ingredient in Zepbound is tirzepatide, the first dual GLP-1/GIP agonist to earn approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Like its biggest rival on the market, Wegovy, Zepbound is administered via subcutaneous injection once a week.

However, some patients don't like to poke needles into their skin and would prefer an oral pill instead, even if they have to take it daily. That's why many drugmakers have been looking to develop an effective oral weight loss option, and Eli Lilly might have just done it.

In a phase 3 study, orforglipron, a once-daily weight management candidate, delivered excellent results in patients with type 2 diabetes. The highest dose of the therapy led to a mean weight loss of 7.9% in the trial, along with a 1.5% decrease in A1C levels over 40 weeks. As Lilly pointed out, orforglipron's performance was consistent with that of injectable GLP-1 medicines.

There are many reasons to buy

Since orforglipron is an oral pill, it will be easier (and cheaper) to manufacture in large quantities and launch in markets worldwide. That would be a meaningful advantage even if companies weren't dealing with tariff-related expenses that could increase their manufacturing costs. And since orforglipron's efficacy is consistent with that of existing injected medicines, it should capture a decent share of the market. So we can expect orforglipron to become an important part of Eli Lilly's lineup.

However, there are plenty of other reasons to invest in the stock. Lilly has outperformed the market in recent years due to its progress in diabetes and weight loss, while some of its older products continue to perform exceptionally well.

Consider Verzenio, a cancer drug. Last year, its sales soared by 37% year over year to $5.3 billion. Taltz, Lilly's immunosuppressant, reported revenue of $3.3 billion last year, 18% higher than the year-ago period. Eli Lilly isn't just a diabetes or a weight loss company. These products -- and some of the newer approvals the company has earned -- show that.

One of its more impressive achievements is the launch of Kisunla, a therapy for Alzheimer's disease (AD) -- an area that earned the nickname of a "graveyard" for investigational medicines, considering the large number of clinical failures. However, Lilly succeeded where the overwhelming majority of drugmakers failed, and Kisunla should be an important growth driver for a while.

Beyond any single medicine, though, Eli Lilly's greatest strength is proving to be its innovative abilities. Whether it's in diabetes, weight loss, Alzheimer's disease, immunology, or oncology, the pharmaceutical leader has had significant clinical and regulatory wins in recent years, adding several blockbusters -- or future blockbusters -- to its lineup. That's why revenue and earnings have recently grown rapidly, and it should maintain that pace:

LLY Revenue (Annual) data by YCharts.

Additionally, Lilly is an excellent dividend-paying stock. Its forward yield of 0.7% doesn't look particularly attractive -- the average for the S&P 500 is 1.3%. However, the company has increased its dividend by 200% in the past decade. And with a conservative payout ratio of 44%, it has room to increase its dividend even further.

Eli Lilly's shares jumped on the orforglipron news, and are now in the green for the year. But there's plenty of upside left for the stock, for those willing to hold onto its shares through volatility.

Should you invest $1,000 in Eli Lilly right now?

Before you buy stock in Eli Lilly, 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 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 $561,046!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $606,106!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 811% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 153% 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 21, 2025

Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Eli Lilly. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

I recently wrote a story about the wild ride of the Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station last summer. It was based largely on an interview with the commander of the mission, NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore.

His account of Starliner’s thruster failures—and his desperate efforts to keep the vehicle flying on course—was riveting. In the aftermath of the story, many readers, people on social media, and real-life friends congratulated me on conducting a great interview. But truth be told, it was pretty much all Wilmore.

Essentially, when I came into the room, he was primed to talk. I'm not sure if Wilmore was waiting for me specifically to talk to, but he pretty clearly wanted to speak with someone about his experiences aboard the Starliner spacecraft. And he chose me.

Read full article

Comments

As everyone who follows equity markets knows, stocks are feeling the heat from President Donald Trump's macroeconomic policies. On April 3, the president announced sweeping tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. from basically every country on planet Earth.

Some industries have escaped these moves by the administration, at least for now. One of them is the pharmaceutical industry. However, some major executives in the sector are not optimistic, including Eli Lilly's (NYSE: LLY) CEO, David Ricks.

Start Your Mornings Smarter! Wake up with Breakfast news in your inbox every market day. Sign Up For Free »

Let's see what he had to say about the potential impact of tariffs, and what they could mean for those thinking about investing in the company.

A bleak picture of the future

First, let's review the impact that tariffs could have on companies and the economy. According to experts recently interviewed by The Motley Fool, tariffs -- essentially a tax imposed by the government on imported goods -- are generally passed on to importers and consumers.

In other words, they could increase prices for many goods and services. That's not good for consumers, and could be especially problematic when it comes to lifesaving products like pharmaceutical drugs. Perhaps that's why this industry was exempted for now. But Ricks has little confidence things will stay this way, per a recent exclusive interview he gave to the London-based BBC News.

Ricks went further than opining that the current U.S. administration could eventually impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals, saying: "I think it's a pivot in U.S. policy and it feels like it'll be hard to come back from here." He explained that governments in the U.S. and Europe cap the prices of medicines, which would give drugmakers little room to pass the costs of tariffs on to consumers, so they'll have to make adjustments and cuts elsewhere.

Perhaps the first affected area will be research and development (R&D), meaning companies could develop fewer drugs. That's bad for practically every stakeholder involved, including Eli Lilly, its shareholders, and patients who might need those medications.

With this bleak picture in mind, should investors avoid the pharmaceutical industry in general, or Lilly specifically? I believe the answer is a resounding "no." Here's why.

A terrific long-term investment

Eli Lilly is a veteran of the industry. It has been around -- and thrived -- for decades across multiple administrations, changes in regulatory regimes, recessions, and more. No company can accomplish that by accident.

In its current situation, there's little doubt that Lilly will seek ways to get around the problem. In fact, it's already doing so. Lilly recently announced construction projects in the U.S. -- it will build four new manufacturing facilities. That's one way to avoid tariffs imposed by the government: shoring up local manufacturing capacity, so there will be fewer imported goods to tax.

Though these new projects might have been a response to Trump's stated plans to impose tariffs on imported goods, Lilly has been building new facilities in the U.S. (or improving existing ones) for years. The newly announced initiative would more than double its total spending on manufacturing capacity since 2020 to over $50 billion. And since then, Lilly has built new sites or expanded existing ones in North Carolina, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Eli Lilly can afford it. Net income and adjusted earnings per share have soared in the past five years. While free cash flow hasn't moved in the right direction, that's likely in part due to these investments.

LLY Revenue (Annual) data by YCharts.

Eli Lilly is reaping the benefits from its innovation in diabetes and obesity management, with therapies like Mounjaro and Zepbound generating billions of dollars in annual sales. The company has several other key growth drivers, including newer medicines that should pull its top line in the right direction well into the next decade.

Lilly's pipeline is equally promising, with exciting candidates across many therapeutic areas: oncology, gene therapy, and, of course, its core diabetes and obesity business. That's another reason Eli Lilly has performed so well over the long run: It's an innovative company that's made many significant breakthroughs.

Though tariffs may be hard to come back from, as the CEO argued, the company is about as well-positioned as any of its peers in the industry to handle them. The U.S. is the most lucrative market for drugmakers, so most can't afford to suspend their operations here.

With a significantly expanded manufacturing capacity in the U.S. and proven innovative abilities, Eli Lilly should continue delivering excellent financial results and market-beating returns for a long time. I believe investors should stay put -- and even consider buying more shares while the stock market is in shambles.

Should you invest $1,000 in Eli Lilly right now?

Before you buy stock in Eli Lilly, 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 Eli Lilly wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $590,231!*

Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*. 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 5, 2025

Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Eli Lilly. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Equity markets may be struggling because of President Donald Trump's current economic policies, but that doesn't mean investors should avoid buying stocks right now -- quite the contrary. History tells us that equities tend to experience strong runs following downturns, so it's worth putting money into excellent companies that are being dragged down with along with the broader market.

To that end, let's consider five excellent growth-oriented companies to invest in on the dip: Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO), Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX), Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG), and Shopify (NASDAQ: SHOP).

Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly

It might seem odd to group Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, but these drugmakers have much in common. They've been the leaders in the diabetes drug market for decades, and both are now pioneering the obesity management space. Novo Nordisk was first to market with Wegovy, an anti-obesity medicine that has become a household name. Eli Lilly then made its move with Zepbound, whose sales are growing incredibly rapidly.

Both companies also have exciting candidates in the pipeline in diabetes and obesity care. Eli Lilly should release data from phase 3 clinical trials for orforglipron, a once-daily oral pill for weight management, sometime this year. Novo Nordisk failed to impress the market with late-stage clinical trial data for CagriSema, an anti-obesity candidate, but it has more potential gems in its pipeline.

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have both seen sales grow rapidly in recent years thanks to their dominance in weight management. And although some observers were worried about their valuations, the current sell-off should take care of that problem.

There are some key differences between these two leading drugmakers. Novo Nordisk is more focused on diabetes than its counterpart; as of November, it held a 33.7% share of the diabetes care market -- remaining flat year over year. Eli Lilly has blockbusters in other areas, such as immunology and oncology.

In the long run, expect somewhat more of the same, though Novo Nordisk should succeed in diversifying its operations. The crucial point is that both companies are innovative drugmakers with deep lineups, pipelines, and significant growth prospects. Now that they've become cheaper in the sell-off, it's a great time to buy.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Vertex Pharmaceuticals is another leading drugmaker that famously dominates its market: medicines for cystic fibrosis (CF), a disease that affects internal organs. Vertex develops the only therapies in the world that target the underlying causes of this condition.

The company generates steady revenue and profits. Though it's made tremendous headway in treating CF patients since the early 2010s, there remain many who have yet to start treatment, even among those who are eligible for its current drugs.

Elsewhere, the biotech has expanded its lineup thanks to therapies like Casgevy, which treats a pair of blood-related disorders, and Journavx, a non-opioid pain medication; both should be significant growth drivers. And that's before we look into the pipeline, which boasts several promising candidates.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals' prospects remain attractive, making it a top stock to buy in this downturn.

Intuitive Surgical

Intuitive Surgical is a medical device specialist that dominates the robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) market. The company's crown jewel is the da Vinci system, which is approved for many procedures across multiple areas. The most recent iteration of this device -- the fifth -- is an improvement over previous versions. Though it only received clearance last year, it has already attracted quite a bit of attention, more than analysts expected.

This shows, once again, Intuitive's commitment to innovation. So, despite the threat of competition from healthcare giants like Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson -- both of which are working on RAS devices -- Intuitive Surgical's long-term prospects look attractive. Besides its innovative abilities, Intuitive benefits from a first-mover advantage: It will take years before newcomers jump through all the clinical and regulatory hoops needed to challenge the company's dominance.

Meanwhile, the RAS market remains underpenetrated, with fewer than 5% of eligible procedures being performed robotically. Expect Intuitive to grow its installed base and procedure volume at a good clip in the long run, along with its revenue and earnings. The stock can still provide outsized returns.

Shopify

E-commerce specialist Shopify started the year on a strong note. Its financial results have been strong lately, particularly on the bottom line, where relatively recent changes (getting rid of its logistics business and increasing its prices) are helping boost profits. However, the company has not escaped the market downturn. Still, considering Shopify's position in the e-commerce field -- and the industry's prospects -- this is an excellent opportunity to pick up some shares.

Shopify gives merchants everything they need to start and run an online storefront, with thousands of apps in its app store that cater to merchants' demands beyond the company's basic offerings. It also holds a 12% market share in the U.S. by gross merchandise volume -- that's up from 10% in 2022. And it benefits from a strong competitive advantage based on switching costs.

Meanwhile, e-commerce still accounts for under 20% of total retail commerce in the U.S., one of the world's leaders in the industry. Shopify could ride the increased growth of this market for years and deliver strong returns to loyal, patient shareholders. That's why the stock is worth buying on the dip.

Don’t miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity

Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you’ll want to hear this.

On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a “Double Down” stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you’re worried you’ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:

• Nvidia: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2009, you’d have $249,730!*
• Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $32,689!*
• Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $469,399!*

Right now, we’re issuing “Double Down” alerts for three incredible companies, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.

Continue »

*Stock Advisor returns as of April 5, 2025

Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Eli Lilly, Intuitive Surgical, Johnson & Johnson, Novo Nordisk, Shopify, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Intuitive Surgical, Shopify, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool recommends Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, and Novo Nordisk and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $75 calls on Medtronic and short January 2026 $85 calls on Medtronic. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

From TV star to powerful government official. That's the path taken by President Donald Trump and his new administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) -- Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Oz was a heart surgeon and medical school professor for years. He achieved fame thanks to frequent appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, which led to his hosting his own TV program, The Dr. Oz Show. Oz ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania in 2022.

Start Your Mornings Smarter! Wake up with Breakfast news in your inbox every market day. Sign Up For Free »

But that didn't end his political career. The Senate officially confirmed Oz to head CMS on April 3. Here's what retirees need to know so far.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Oz's confirmation went along party lines

All 53 Republican senators voted to confirm Oz to head CMS. None of the 45 Democratic senators voted for his confirmation. What were the minority party's objections to having Oz run CMS?

For one thing, some Democrats were concerned about Oz's potential conflicts of interest. He has disclosed investments in big drugmakers AbbVie and Eli Lilly and giant health insurer UnitedHealth Group, among others. These healthcare companies receive payments from Medicare. Oz did commit to divesting any financial interests in these companies.

There were also questions raised during Oz's Senate confirmation hearing about his past support for controversial therapies. For example, ranking Democratic member of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, asked Oz about his advocacy of green coffee extract, which the senator said was fraudently marketed as a "miracle weight-loss drug."

Probably the biggest objection to Oz's confirmation, though, was that he wouldn't commit to fighting attempts to cut Medicaid.

2. Oz has previously promoted Medicare Advantage

Oz has been a longtime proponent of Medicare Advantage plans. He and former Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson proposed expanding Medicare Advantage because they believed it's better than traditional Medicare.

It remains to be seen how aggressively Oz will promote Medicare Advantage now that he's running CMS. During his Senate confirmation hearing, he promised to "go after" a fraudulent practice that can be problematic for Medicare Advantage called upcoding, by which healthcare providers file claims for more expensive procedures or diagnoses than the actual procedure or diagnosis to receive a higher reimbursement from Medicare.

3. What Oz says his Medicare priorities are

Oz acknowledged several problems for Medicare during his confirmation hearing, including the fact that healthcare costs are growing faster than the economy and that the Medicare Trust Fund will run out of money within the next decade. He told the told the Senate Finance Committee that he had three top priorities as the administrator of CMS.

First, Oz wants to "empower beneficiaries with better tools and more transparency, so the American people can better navigate their health, as well as dealing with the complex healthcare system we have created for them." He specifically mentioned increasing transparency related to prescription drug costs.

Second, he wants to provide incentives to healthcare providers to "optimize care." Oz thinks that using artificial intelligence (AI) can "liberate doctors and nurses from all the paperwork" and allow them to focus more on patients.

Third, Oz plans to aggressively reduce waste, fraud, and abuse with Medicare and Medicaid. The previously mentioned upcoding issue was one area that he discussed targeting.

4. There has been one Medicare surprise so far

Oz has been at the helm of CMS for less than a week. There has already been one Medicare surprise. On April 8, 2025, CMS announced a higher-than-expected payment increase for Medicare Advantage plans. It's unclear if Oz was involved in the decision, but the move could indicate that he'll continue his previous support for Medicare Advantage plans as head of CMS.

The $22,924 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook

If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $22,924 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies.

View the "Social Security secrets" »

Keith Speights has positions in AbbVie. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AbbVie. The Motley Fool recommends UnitedHealth Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.