Gabelli Funds Portfolio Manager Jeff Jonas in Reuters

Wegovy craze was all the rage on Q3 earnings calls

Weight loss was the talk of this earnings season, making names such as Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro the water-cooler discussion that companies across the globe could not ignore.

Analysts attended earnings calls in the third quarter armed with questions for healthcare and consumer companies about the potential effect on their sales from the growing popularity of these drugs, known as GLP-1 agonists.

A Reuters analysis of earnings transcripts for the third quarter showed “GLP-1” or alternatives like “obesity” or “weight-loss medications” were mentioned 256 times across 29 U.S. and European healthcare and consumer companies.

That’s more than double the mentions for the second quarter, when those phrases came up 127 times.

“It’s definitely a hot topic,” said Jeff Jonas, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds. “They (companies) are all having to respond to this to whether it’s a positive for their business or trying to argue why it’s not a negative.”