Do they still have potential? Let’s take a look at City analysts’ medium-term price targets to see what the experts think.

Share price gains ahead?

At present, the average analyst 12-month price target for GSK is 2,099p. That’s about 12% higher than today’s share price.

If it was to be hit, a £6,000 investment today would grow to a little over £6,700. Add in dividends and investors could be looking at closer to £6,900.

Is that price achievable?

Of course, analysts’ price targets should never be relied upon. Often they don’t come to fruition.

However, in this case, I don’t see the average price target as unrealistic. Because there are several factors that could lead to a share price boost over the next 12 months.

Two reasons to be bullish

One is the company’s low valuation. At present, GSK sports a forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just 10.4, making it one of the cheaper Big Pharma stocks in the market.

For reference, UK rival AstraZeneca is on 16.2 right now. Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson is on about 22.

Another is market dynamics. In the second half of 2026 and/or 2027, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more money flow into the healthcare sector.

Today, this sector offers long-term growth at reasonable valuations. It also offers a hedge against a tech sector meltdown.

Why doesn’t the market like GSK today?

That said, for the shares to hit that price, we’d need to see investor sentiment towards the company improve. Right now, it’s quite weak.

One reason for this is that the company’s Q1 earnings were boosted by one-off factors. Q1 also showed soft trends in GSK’s general medicines business.

Another is that the company recently said that it will halt development of camlipixant – a drug designed to treat chronic coughing – after it failed two late-stage trials. GSK had previously forecast peak annual sales of about £2.5bn here, so the move creates some uncertainty in relation to the group’s 2031 target of £40bn in annual revenue.

A third factor impacting sentiment is earnings forecasts. Like the share price, these are falling.

Still worth it?

So are the shares worth considering for a portfolio or holding on if someone already owns them? I think so.

There’s no guarantee they will produce strong returns from here – we may need to see growth pick up for the shares to find some positive momentum. However, with a yield of nearly 4% on offer, I see potential for solid total returns in the years ahead.

What income stock do we like better than GSK right now?

One of our Share Advisor analysts has just released a brand new stock report that we think is a must-read for any investor looking to try and generate potential income.

And the best bit is that you can see if for yourself, right now, absolutely free of charge!

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Edward Sheldon does not hold any positions in the companies mentioned

The post By mid-2027, analysts expect £6,000 in GSK shares to be worth… appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

Earnings, cash flow and pipeline progress all point in a far more positive direction than the market is pricing in. And that mismatch is where the undervaluation story really begins.

So what sort of gains could we be looking at?

What’s the price-to-value gap here?

In stock markets, price and value rarely march in step. Price reflects short‑term sentiment, while value is anchored in a company’s real fundamentals.

For investors who think in years rather than days, that mismatch is crucial. Markets eventually pull prices back towards ‘fair value’, and that journey is where long‑term profits are often made.

Discounted cash flow (DCF) modelling is the gold standard used by professional investors to determine this value.

It anchors a stock’s value by estimating the cash it will generate in the years ahead and discounting those amounts back to the present. When those earnings forecasts become less clear, the discount rate increases.

Because analysts may use different inputs here, among other assumptions, their DCF valuations can vary. But based on my own modelling, including a 7.4% discount rate, GSK shares appear 58% undervalued at their present £19.64 price.

That suggests a fair value of £46.76 — more than twice today’s level. So, should prices continue gravitating toward fair value over time, this may represent an excellent buying opportunity if those DCF assumptions prove accurate.

What will drive the upwards re-rating?

GSK’s long‑term cash‑flow engine is the breadth and depth of its vaccines, speciality meds, HIV and respiratory treatments, and the late‑stage pipeline.

A real risk here is any regulatory or clinical setback in this pipeline, which could delay future revenue and reduce earnings. Another is an increase in government pressure to lower prices, particularly in the US.  

Nevertheless, analysts project GSK’s earnings — which power cash flow — will increase by a yearly average of 5.7% to end-2028 at minimum. This looks an underestimate to me, given its recent strong of strong results.

Q1 2026, for example, saw core operating profit jump 10% year on year to £2.65bn, powered by its speciality medicines. Management said it expects core earnings per share growth of 7%–9% this year. And it also projected sales of more than £40bn by 2031, against 2025’s £32.7bn.

In the full-year 2025 numbers, the firm highlighted strong pipeline progress, including five major FDA approvals and seven major trial starts. This year, two new major product approvals are expected, five major readouts, and 10 major trial starts.

My investment view

GSK’s powerful long‑term cash‑flow engine and clear earnings momentum underline the deeply discounted valuation.

The scale of its vaccines and speciality medicines franchises — backed by a busy late‑stage pipeline — makes me believe that cash flows will keep compounding over time.

So, I think the stock merits serious consideration from other long‑term investors who focus on fundamentals rather than short‑term sentiment.

I will also be buying more of the stock very shortly. And I have also noticed a handful of other stocks in different sectors that look very undervalued given their strong earnings growth.

Should you invest £5,000 in GSK right now?

When investing expert Mark Rogers and his team have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the flagship Twelfth Magpie Share Advisor newsletter he has run for nearly a decade has provided thousands of paying members with top stock recommendations from the UK and US markets.

And right now, Mark thinks there are 6 standout stocks that investors should consider buying. Want to see if GSK made the list?

Simon Watkins owns shares in GSK.

The post Down 14% to around £19! Is now just the right time for me to capitalise on GSK’s bargain-basement share price? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

Since February 2009, it’s climbed from 52.88% to a whopping 237.8% — suggesting it’s valued at 137.8% higher than GDP.

The ratio compares US GDP to the Wilshire 5000, an index widely regarded as the definitive benchmark for the US stock market. The growth means it’s now two standard deviations above its trendline, an event that’s only occurred three times in history:

• Before the 1968 stock market crash.
• Before the dot-com bubble.
• Before the 2022 bear market.

What’s more, the 30-year US Treasury yield hovered above 5% for 11 consecutive days in May, the longest period since 2007. And we all know what happened in 2008…

So what does this mean for UK investors?

Will the stock market crash?

No single indicator, even one this prominent, can accurately predict a market downturn. But in any case, extremely high valuations are worth being concerned about.

Here’s a few ideas on how to prepare, and — more importantly — what NOT to do.

1. DON’T panic.

2. Trim risky portfolio positions.

3. Diversify into high-quality stocks.

4. Increase cash holdings.

These four steps aim to achieve the following: avoid panic selling, limit losses, and prepare to buy cheap stocks if the opportunity arises.

History shows investors that sold during market dips typically missed out when the market inevitably recovered. If you’re investing for the long-term, selling during a crash seldom benefits. 

But trimming risky positions such as hyped-up US tech stocks can help. These are typically stocks with the highest valuations, having grown rapidly in recent years.

Rather, try to shift funds into high-quality companies with durable earnings, strong balance sheets and reliable cash flows. These stocks, often referred to as ‘defensive’ shares, tend to do better during downturns.

A defensive UK pick

One example of a good defensive UK company is GSK (LSE: GSK). Unlike cyclical or discretionary products, medicines and vaccines maintain demand during market downturns.

Since demerging its consumer health division as Haleon in 2022, it has focused purely on its pharmaceutical business.

In 2025, sales rose 7% to £32.7bn, with particularly strong growth in Specialty Medicines, up 17%. Core profit rose 11% to £9.8bn and it generated £8.9bn in cash.

Pretty solid numbers in anyone’s book, but not risk-free. Like all pharma giants, it’s at risk from patent expiries. Its key HIV drug Dolutegravir expires in the US in 2027 and Europe in 2029, potentially slashing revenue by 20%.

Still, a key characteristic of defensive shares is their income potential, and GSK’s no exception. It currently pays an annual dividend of 70p per share, equating to a yield of 3.6%, slightly above the UK average.

Its defensive credentials are further backed by the recent repurchase of £2bn in shares, helping increase shareholder value.

The bottom line

When the stock market looks shaky, don’t panic. All it takes is a bit of careful portfolio rebalancing to minimise losses without having to exit the market. Plus, building up a small cash pile opens opportunities to grab any wishlist stocks at below-average prices.

GSK’s just one of many defensive UK stocks to consider when aiming to recession-proof a portfolio.

Should you invest £5,000 in GSK right now?

When investing expert Mark Rogers and his team have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the flagship Twelfth Magpie Share Advisor newsletter he has run for nearly a decade has provided thousands of paying members with top stock recommendations from the UK and US markets.

And right now, Mark thinks there are 6 standout stocks that investors should consider buying. Want to see if GSK made the list?

Mark Hartley owns shares in GSK.

The post At 237.8%, the stock market total value-to-GDP ratio is way too high. Here’s what I’m doing. appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

As share prices soar, buying into listed companies becomes a risky business. And given the irrational exuberance among investors, I suspect that the coming market meltdown is inevitable. What might trigger the next collapse?

Price sensitive

Academics have long debated what bursts bubbles and causes financial crashes. Could it be sudden reversals of equity inflows into outflows? Excessive use of leverage and gearing? Economic downturns, changes in interest rates, or external shocks?

I’m not an academic and don’t own a crystal ball, so I’m unable to predict the future. Also, one of my heroes, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr, allegedly warned, “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future”.

Then again, after nearly 40 years of investing, I have directly experienced six major market meltdowns. For me, the underlying cause was always the same: share prices became excessively high, reaching crazy levels and detaching from reality. When financial gravity was finally restored, prices came crashing down to earth.

Three Titans

Right now, I suspect the event most likely to trigger the next stock market crash is the imminent arrival of three new US-listed companies.

Three huge private groups — Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Sam Altman’s OpenAI, and Dario Amodei’s Anthropic — are set to float a small proportion of their shares in the US this summer. Current valuation estimates for these ‘three Titans’ are colossal: around $1.8trn, $1trn, and $1trn, respectively.

One enormous problem is that this trio of AI Goliaths doesn’t make much profit, as their revenues are tiny compared to their prospective market values. In other words, a huge batch of shares in largely unprofitable businesses is about to be dumped on passive investors and active buyers.

When this last happened on a grand scale (in 1999, as the dotcom bubble peaked), it triggered one of the worst market downturns in history. From its peak in March 2000 to the trough three years later, the US stock market lost almost half its value. I do hope this doesn’t happen again.

A crash-resistant share?

When the crash finally arrives, I suspect that go-go growth stocks and financial shares might be hit hardest. In my search for crash-resistant UK shares, I came across one long-term market survivor: biopharma giant GSK (LSE: GSK).

GSK is built on four growth pillars: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases. As I write, the shares stand at 1,894p, valuing this FTSE 100 stalwart at £76.8bn. This stock is up 26.8% over one year and 38.5% over five years, but is 17% below its 52-week high of 2,282p.

Trading on 13.3 times trailing earnings and offering a dividend yield of 3.5% a year, this stock looks undervalued to me. Indeed, I’d happily buy some, except my wife and I already own stakes in GSK (her employer for over 31 years).

Of course, when stock markets crash, few shares survive unscathed. Also, any recession-driven downturn in GSK’s revenues, earnings, and cash flow would be a blow for shareholders. But for now, we shall hang onto our stakes!

Should you invest £5,000 in GSK right now?

When investing expert Mark Rogers and his team have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the flagship Twelfth Magpie Share Advisor newsletter he has run for nearly a decade has provided thousands of paying members with top stock recommendations from the UK and US markets.

And right now, Mark thinks there are 6 standout stocks that investors should consider buying. Want to see if GSK made the list?

Cliff D’Arcy owns GSK shares.

The post I suspect this will trigger a stock market crash! appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

I bought the FTSE 100 pharmaceutical giant in March 2024 precisely because the shares had struggled for years. Former CEO Emma Walmsley froze the dividend and funnelled cash into research and development to rebuild GSK’s weakening drugs pipeline.

Other issues hurt sentiment too. Investors worried about patent expiries, legal battles over its Zantac heartburn treatment, sluggish vaccine sales after the pandemic, and fears that the company lagged rivals in breakthrough obesity drugs.

Why did this FTSE 100 stock finally take off?

It was a thankless task for Walmsley, and the shares never really took off under her leadership. Still, I bought because the valuation looked tempting, with a price-to-earnings ratio of around eight. I was disappointed by the lower yield. The days of 5%-plus dividend income had long gone. I locked into a yield of just over 3%, hoping shareholder payouts would improve as new treatments boosted revenues.

The shares drifted lower for months before bouncing after Walmsley stepped down in December 2025. Full-year results published on 5 February this year were encouraging. Sales rose 7% to £32.7bn while core operating profit climbed 11% to £9.7bn. Free cash flow surged 41% to £4bn.

Net debt crept up to £14.5bn, higher than I expected. But the first results published under new CEO Luke Miels suggested that GSK might finally regain its momentum. Management kept its long-term 2031 sales target above £40bn intact too.

Yet the last three months have been bumpy, and the shares have fallen 12%. That would shrink a £13,000 investment to about £11,440, a paper loss of £1,560. While disappointing, it’s not a huge issue. Shares move up and down all of the time. Over 12 months, GSK share price is still up 27%.

I plan to hold my my shares for years, hopefully decades. Ageing populations and rising healthcare demand should create huge opportunities over time. GSK also has exposure to the massive US market, where it generates roughly half of all its revenues.

Should investors consider buying GSK today?

First-quarter results on 30 April showed progress. Free cash flow rose another £100m to £800m, supporting a forward dividend yield of 3.6% and leaving room for share buybacks. Yet it wasn’t enough. Net debt climbed again to £15.6bn. Forecast sales growth of 3%-5% across 2026 underwhelmed. I’m also concerned about its HIV medicines, as lucrative patents begin to expire in the next two or three years.

Drug companies operate under relentless pressure. Treatments take years to develop, trials can fail at the final hurdle, and there are political risks too. US tariffs remain a concern, although GSK has expanded manufacturing investment in America to reduce exposure there.

Even so, I still think the shares look good value with a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.15. I believe GSK deserves a place in a long-term portfolio and remains well worth considering today. I’ll be keeping a close eye on that pipeline though.

Should you invest £5,000 in GSK right now?

When investing expert Mark Rogers and his team have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the flagship Twelfth Magpie Share Advisor newsletter he has run for nearly a decade has provided thousands of paying members with top stock recommendations from the UK and US markets.

And right now, Mark thinks there are 6 standout stocks that investors should consider buying. Want to see if GSK made the list?

Harvey Jones owns shares in GSK. 

The post See what £13,000 invested in GSK shares 3 months ago is worth today… appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

Profit-taking after a previous strong run-up in price was one reason behind the pullback, I think. Another may have been the decline in sales for its General Medicines division, although other divisions did better than expected.

In either event, the drop only adds to the glaring disconnect between the stock’s share price and the underlying value of the core business. And it is in this gap that big profits can historically be made by savvy long-term investors.

So how big is it?

How good are the results?

The newest results — Q1 2026, released on 29 April — are just the latest in a string of strong numbers highlighting growing earnings momentum across GSK. And it is growth here that ultimately powers gains in any company’s share price over time.

A risk for the firm is any slower‑than‑expected uptake for new launches in its Vaccines and Specialty Medicines divisions. Another is any major problem in one of its key products, which could prompt costly litigation.

However, core operating profit rose 10% year on year to £2.8bn, highlighting strong momentum across Vaccines and Specialty Medicines. Vaccines revenue increased 15% to £3.1bn, underlining the continued strength of Shingrix and newer launches.

Specialty Medicines rose 12% to £2.6bn, illustrating how expanding respiratory and HIV portfolios are driving mix improvement. Continued investment in late‑stage pipeline assets also supports visibility on medium‑term growth, giving GSK multiple engines to power earnings ahead.

What’s the ‘fair value’ of the shares?

Price and value are very different measures for stocks. Price reflects whatever buyers and sellers are willing to trade on at a given moment. But value is determined by the strength and prospects of the underlying business.

That distinction matters for long-term investors’ profits. Over time, market prices tend to move toward a company’s true worth (‘fair value’). This is why understanding and quantifying the gap between price and value is so powerful for building returns.

Discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis helps investors understand where a stock’s fair value is. It does this by projecting a business’s future cash flows and discounting them back to the present. The more uncertain those projections are, the higher the return investors demand, increasing the discount applied.

Analysts’ DCF models differ because their assumptions vary. Using my own inputs — including a 7.2% discount rate — GSK shares are 58% undervalued at their current £18.73 level. That implies a fair value of £44.60, more than twice today’s price.

So if markets continue drifting toward fair value, this could be a great buying opportunity if those DCF assumptions hold.

My investment view

GSK’s latest results underline a business with far more earnings strength than its current share price suggests. The scale of the undervaluation versus my fair‑value estimate looks unusually large for a company of this quality.

With the shares trading at such a steep discount, I will be adding to my existing holding in the stock at these bargain-basement levels. And I also have my eye right now on other deeply undervalued shares in other sectors too.

The post GSK’s share price is down 18% despite another set of strong results! Time for me to buy more for under £19 while I can? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

I’ve just checked out my Self-Invested Personal Pension, and it’s fun all the way. Rolls-Royce Holdings, mining stocks, the banks, housebuilders, International Consolidated Airlines Group, even beaten-down spirits giant Diageo are all up between 5% and 9% on the day.

There’s inevitably an exception. Oil giant BP has slipped more than 3%. And it’s plunging for exactly the same reason almost everything else is flying. The Iran conflict.

Have we left it too late to buy cheap shares?

Since the war began on 28 February, markets have been at the mercy of news from the Gulf. When Donald Trump says all is going well, the oil price falls and shares soar. When the missiles start flying, the reverse happens. Yesterday, a barrel of Brent crude hit $112, and the FTSE 100 was plunging. Today, Brent is down to $102, and it’s flying.

This morning’s rally follows US suggestions that the “offensive” stage of the war with Iran is over. Time will tell. We’ve had weeks of this, and there’s likely to be more volatility to come. But it does remind us of an old lesson. Investors shouldn’t panic and sell in a crisis, because they’ll miss great days like this.

What they can do is turn market volatility to their advantage by snapping up their favourite stocks at lower prices on the bad days. I grabbed my chance on Friday (1 May), buying NatWest shares after they dipped 4.5% on poorly received Q1 results. I’m feeling a bit smug today, as they’re up 5.1%. So are there other FTSE 100 bargains out there, despite today’s rally? I think there are.

Are GSK shares a bargain buy?

Recent weeks have bumpy for pharmaceutical giant GSK (LSE: GSK). The shares have nudged up today, but they’re still down 11.4% over the past month. Last week (29 April) GSK published Q1 results showing sales up 5% to £7.6bn and underlying operating profit rising to 10% to £2.7bn.

However, the board disappointed markets by holding both 2026 guidance its 2031 sales outlook for more than £40bn. GSK shares sank on the day. Long-term investors won’t be too unhappy though. The GSK share price is still up 35% in a year, with dividends on top. So is the dip a chance to get in at a lower valuation?

I think it may be. GSK’s trailing price-to-earnings ratio is now a modest 10.8, while its forward dividend yield has crept up to 3.75%. In 2027, it’s forecast to top 4.1%.

There are risks with every stock. GSK needs to keep its pipeline of new treatments flowing. Net debt has crept up to £15.6bn. Governments are keen to squeeze drugs prices, which threaten margins. If GSK fails to beat that ambitious 2031 sales target, the shares could struggle.

Yet I think investors keen for exposure to the healthcare sector consider taking advantage of the recent dip. As GSK shows, there are always bargain buys out there, even on brilliant days like today.

The post What on earth’s going on with UK shares today? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

• Oncology sales up 28%, Shingrix vaccine sales up 20%.
• Full-year guidance reaffirmed.
• Over £40bn sales targeted by 2031.

Some of the figures were a bit mixed, but I can’t help thinking investors might have missed the big picture. Let’s take a closer look.

Sales up, but…

Total sales in the quarter reached £7.6bn. But that did mean only a modest 2% rise — or 5% at constant exchange rates (CER). And though Shingrix led GSK’s vaccine sales, Arexvy vaccine sales fell 18%. And General Medicines dipped 6% at CER.

I don’t, however, really think that takes much of the edge off what looks like an impressive quarter. And I’m buoyed by what CEO Luke Miels had to say about upcoming prospects.

Alongside operational delivery, we are focused on execution and accelerating R&D. This is visible in filings we have achieved for bepirovirsen, our potential functional cure for hepatitis B; updated phase III plans for our oncology ADCs; and completed acquisitions for new pipeline assets: ozureprubart for food allergies, and HS235 for pulmonary hypertension.

These mostly target ailments on the rise in wealthy, developed, nations. Addressing those has to be a good thing, for so many reasons.

What should we expect?

A plan to exceed £40bn in sales by 2031 could make GSK shares a very nice long-term investment. And it could happily fuel a progressive dividend prospect. The company has 70p per share pencilled in for the full year, which would mean a 3.6% dividend yield on the price at the time of writing.

But what does management see happening in 2026? Full-year guidance (at CER) hinges on three key expectations:

• Turnover to increase between 3% and 5%.
• Core operating profit to increase between 7% and 9%.
• Core earnings per share to increase between 7% and 9%.

The shares look cheap

Investors had been piling into the stock after February’s FY25 results. I don’t see anything so far to take the shine off what was an impressive year, and GSK shares are still up 7% year to date. But enthusiasm appears to have cooled, with the price falling back.

Whatever’s turned investors off the stock, even if only briefly, I can’t really see it being valuation. Forecasts put the forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio at under 13. And that’s even with analysts predicting a 28% rise in earnings between 2025 and 2028.

There’s one major hurdle in the road ahead, though. GSK faces the expiry of a handful of blockbuster drug patents before the end of the decade.

Don’t panic!

Against that, it has a good number of very promising drugs reaching late trial stages. There’s nothing guaranteed, of course. And it’s good to be aware of the cost and risk of failure of any prospect.

But right now, I see this as a good time for long-term investors to consider GSK shares while the valuation looks a bit weak.

The post As GSK shares fall 5% on Q1 news, is this a buying opportunity? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

So what’s behind this sudden popularity? And should I be following the crowd and investing too?

What just happened?

The sudden spike in buying activity hasn’t been caused by a single major news catalyst. In fact, the company hasn’t reported any earnings since February.

Instead, this newfound popularity is seemingly being driven by several compounding factors as we approach its next earnings report in just a few days’ time.

This includes:

• A still-reasonable valuation at 15.5 times earnings.
• Continued safe haven appeal against the wider macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty.
• A string of positive regulatory and clinical trial results.

As such, institutional analysts have built a relatively clear consensus for the firm’s upcoming earnings, including low-to-mid single-digit top expansion and high single-digit core operating profit growth expectations. But there are also some specific items that experts are watching closely.

What’s under the microscope?

GSK’s HIV franchise is a genuine cash machine as patients remain on lifelong medicines and closely follow their treatment regimens. That’s why it’s become one of GSK’s highest margin and most reliable parts of the business. But any surprise slowdown could spark wider concern.

Another area in focus is the group’s venture into oncology. Its four flagship cancer treatments (Zejula, Blenrep, Jemperli, and Ojjaara) are expected to generate £530m in revenue during the first quarter of 2026.

Another drug in analysts’ crosshairs is Depemokimab. This emerging respiratory treatment isn’t expected to deliver gangbusters revenue in 2026. But current forecasts have it on track to rise from around £187m this year to £875m by 2028. And any early commentary about this ramp-up will be closely monitored.

So far, this all sounds rather promising. But what are the key risks surrounding this FTSE 100 enterprise to watch out for?

Where are the weak spots?

Like most pharmaceutical giants, GSK’s facing a looming patent cliff with multiple blockbuster drugs losing their protection before the start of the 2030s.

As such, the race is on to discover new novel treatments to replace the expected loss in revenue and profits. And it’s why institutional analysts are paying such close attention to the progress of drugs in the development pipeline.

The risk for investors is that even late-stage clinical trials can often end up failing. After all, drug development is notoriously challenging, expensive, and uncertain. If a promising candidate in its vaccine or oncology portfolio fails, the FTSE stock’s recent surge in popularity might quickly start to reverse.

But is this a risk worth taking?

The bottom line

While the risk of poor clinical trial results cannot be ignored, it’s worth pointing out that GSK has quite a decent track record on this front. And thanks to these earlier successes, the group’s beaten analyst expectations for over four quarters in a row.

That clearly demonstrates talented leadership and a high-quality research pipeline. Therefore, investors looking for exposure to the pharmaceutical industry may indeed want to take a closer look at this FTSE 100 stock today. I know I certainly am.

The post UK investors are piling into GSK! Should I buy this FTSE 100 stock? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.

Back then, GlaxoSmithKline was seen as one of the most solid and reliable dividend stocks on the blue-chip index. A yield of 5%-6% seemed assured, with steady share price growth too. The shares were then plunged as the dot-com boom unwound and by 2004, they’d roughly halved. Progress since then has been patchy.

Until recently, the stock was bumping along near a 10-year low. Suddenly, that’s changed.

FTSE 100 big seller

GSK’s now the most popular stock among UK investors over the last week, accounting for 5.46% of all purchases on the AJ Bell platform. That’s more than double second-placed Legal & General, with just 2.63%. It’s also streaking ahead of big sellers like Microsoft, Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, Nvidia and BP. So what’s driving the surge?

It’s not down to fresh news. GSK hasn’t reported since 4 February, when it posted a strong set of results. Full-year sales rose 7% to £32.7bn, while underlying operating profit climbed 11% to £9.8bn, slightly ahead of expectations.

New chief executive Luke Miels maintained the growth targets set by predecessor Emma Walmsley, with sales forecast to reach £40bn by 2031.

For years, GSK struggled as it worked to replenish its drugs pipeline after a string of blockbuster treatments came off patent. To fund that investment, Walmsley froze the dividend at 80p per share for eight long years to 2022. That dreary stretch culminated in a cut to 57.75p, instead of the hoped-for hike.

We’ve seen a couple of respectable dividend increases, lifting the full-year 2025 payout to 60.6p. Further growth seems possible, with free cash flow jumping 41% to £4bn.

Dividends and growth

Income seekers may be underwhelmed by the current yield of around 3.1%, but that’s partly because the share price has done so well. GSK is up an impressive 56% over the last year. I’m personally thrilled with that, having bought in two years ago.

GSK looks built for volatile times like today. I can see why it’s in demand. The valuation remains reasonable, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.3 (it looked like a screaming bargain with a P/E of eight when I bought it).

It’s also produced a string of clinical successes, which have further bolstered investor demand. But as with every stock, there are still risks. Like all pharmaceutical companies, GSK faces constant pressure to develop new treatments and vaccines. But the process is lengthy, and late stage failures are always a risk.

The sector’s also under pressure from governments to cut drug prices. US tariff concerns also linger, as do the risk of class action lawsuits.

Even so, GSK’s delivered. For investors with a long-term outlook, it still looks well worth considering. Yet after such a strong run, anyone buying today should be ready for a period of slower progress from here.

The post Suddenly investors can’t get enough of GSK shares! What’s going on? appeared first on The Twelfth Magpie.