With a plus of 5.1% to DKK 1,974, Genmab added DKK 6.3bn (USD 908m) to its market capitalization on Thursday. Overall, Genmab is now worth DKK 130.5bn.

However, the stock was as high as DKK 2,112 during the day, which was an increase of 12.5% compared to Wednesday.

Although 2023 ended largely as expected, the biotech company had a share buyback of up to DKK 3.5bn for investors and guidance for 2024 that managed to meet expectations for the year, according to senior analyst at Sydbank Søren Løntoft Hansen.

”The share buyback is striking and the guidance is positive on the top line and meets market expectations in advance,” he tells MarketWire.

The share buyback program is a new direction for Genmab, which has not previously announced major distributions to shareholders.

Oskar Barner Bernhardtsen, investment strategist at Saxo Bank, says the very fact that Genmab is choosing to use part of its profits to buy back shares shows that the company is better classified as a pharma company rather than a biotech firm.

”Genmab is making money today and delivered a profit of approximately DKK 4.3bn in 2023, which is about double compared to 2019,” he says in a comment on the financial statements.

Although the share price gained Thursday, Genmab has fallen 8.4% this year.

And there is still a long way to go for the share price to recover to previous highs:

”Since 2021, the share has not given a great return. The share is currently trading at around DKK 2,000 after peaking in late 2022 just below the price of 3,300,” says Saxo Bank’s investment strategist.

Translated using DeepL with additional editing by Kristoffer Grønbæk