I’ve never been a huge fan of analysts ‘price targets’.
While the below image is a humorous take on price targets, it’s not too far off from how many analysts create price targets.
The reality is most analysts issue price targets in a very reactionary way, typically without any data to actually back up how they came to that price target.
But this doesn’t mean we can’t find realistic price targets for most stocks.
How to Calculate a Price Target 🎯
At the end of the day, market returns (not including dividends) come from 2 sources:
Earnings Per Share (EPS) Growth
PE Multiple Expansion
If a company’s P/E ratio goes up, it means the earnings per share decreased, or investors are willing to pay more for each dollar of earnings the company generates.
The opposite of this is true as well.
If the P/E ratio goes down, it means earnings increased, or investors are willing to pay less for each dollar of earnings.
So if we can project the future EPS of a company, as well as their future PE ratio, we can come to a price target, as well as see what our total expected return is.
Let’s create a 5 year price target for 4 stocks.
1. Novo Nordisk (NVO) 💉
Novo Nordisk is a global healthcare company based in Denmark, best known for its leadership in diabetes care.
Its blockbuster drugs include Ozempic and Wegovy, which have driven massive growth in recent years due to rising demand for GLP-1 therapies.
In the last year, this company is down nearly 50%.
The biggest threat to Novo Nordisk right now is Eli Lilly, which recently announced successful Phase 3 trials of an oral competitor, leading to the stock selling off further
But here’s what most people are missing
The obesity drug market is expected to exceed $170B by 2030, growing at a 32% CAGR.
The pie is growing so fast that even if Eli Lilly takes some market share away from Novo Nordisk, their earnings can still grow at a high double digit rate.
With Tickerdata, we can easily see the average EPS estimates from analysts through the year 2029.
Again, we can see analysts are projecting quite rapid EPS growth for Novo Nordisk.
I typically prefer to be conservative with my projections and estimates.
So if we use the average analyst estimate for 2029 EPS, while also projecting a PE ratio of 20 (which is drastically lower than the company’s 4 year average)-
We come to a price target of 871.59 (or $131.84 if you use the NYSE ticker NVO).
This would give us a return of 103.22%, not including dividends.
Keep in mind, NVO pays a growing dividend with a starting yield of 3.38%.
2. Google (GOOG) 🔍
Google is a global technology company best known for its search engine, but it also offers a wide range of products and services including advertising, cloud computing, software, and hardware.
The obvious threat to Google is the threat of AI eroding Google’s search dominance, but there are a few things to consider:
Google’s AI platform, Gemini, is now near the top of every leaderboard,
Search ad revenue was up 10% YoY in Q1 2025.
The Google Search portion of the business is already estimated to be valued at a low multiple of around 9x - 10x EPS (Lower than most slow growth companies, so the downside seems to be priced in)
Like Novo Nordisk, despite poor sentiment around the stock, EPS growth projections from analysts look quite attractive.
So if we use the average analyst estimate for 2029 EPS of $16.20, while also projecting a PE ratio of 20.5 (which again, is a decent bit lower than their 4 year average)-
We come to a price target of $332.10.
This gives us a return of 113.23% by 2029.
Google is currently yielding just 0.52%, but has immense dividend growth potential in the future.
3. ASML Holding (ASML) 🔬
ASML holds a virtual monopoly on EUV lithography, which is a critical process in advanced chip production. Without ASML’s machines, cutting-edge semiconductors simply don’t get made.
The AI market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 26.6% through 2031.
With the explosion of AI, demand for their equipment is soaring.
What makes them unique:
Their technology has no close substitute.
They're positioned at the center of AI, semiconductors, and computing infrastructure.
ASML is expected to see very high EPS growth in the next few years.
Companies with rapid EPS growth projections warrant higher valuation multiples, and this monopoly is no different.
Their 4 year average PE ratio is 38.37.
If we remain conservative by projecting a lower PE ratio of 30, we come to a price target of $1,455.02.
This gives us a return of 105.5% by 2029.
The dividend yield is currently about 1%, but with the way earnings are growing, they have the ability to grow their dividend at a high rate as well. In fact, management stated that they intend to do so in their recent earnings report.
4. UnitedHealth Group (UNH) 🩺
UnitedHealth Group is the largest U.S. health insurer.
From a sentiment perspective, this is one of the most out of favor stocks on the market.
Sentiment is low for 3 reasons:
CEO murder and scrutiny over U.S. healthcare system
Cyber attack occurred in 2024, leading to a 1 time drop in EPS
Earnings miss and lowered guidance
But here’s what is interesting about each of these:
These are short-term headwinds, not business model risks.
2024 earnings were hit by the cyberattack, but 2025 EPS is still projected to exceed 2023.
Management reaffirmed their 13–16% long-term EPS growth target.
All 3 reasons for sentiment being low shouldn’t impact the stock long term.
If we look at analysts projections, they seem to agree.
If we assume the PE ratio will be a little more than 25% below their 4 year average, we still come to a price target of $976.94.
This would give us a return of 153.39% by 2029.
Keep in mind, UNH is also a dividend growth machine. They’ve been delivering 15%+ dividend growth over the past decade.
Their starting yield is currently the highest it’s ever been at 2.15%.
Our Price Targets 🎯
It’s important to remember that none of our price targets today were vague or based on hype.
In fact, we did quite the opposite.
Using Tickerdata, we took the average EPS estimate from analysts, and then provided a conservative PE ratio based on their historical averages.
So even though each of these stocks had over 100% upside, that is certainly not their best case scenario.
Each of these stocks has the ability to grow their dividend at double digit growth rates in the future as well.
While these stocks won’t appeal you if you are looking for high yield, these are 4 stocks to have on your watchlist if you are a long term dividend growth investor.
Check out these resources:
Tickerdata 🚀 (My automated spreadsheets and instant stock data for Google Sheets!)
Interactive Brokers 💰 (My favorite place to buy and sell stocks all around the world!)
Seeking Alpha 🔥 (My favorite investment research platform + Spring Sale!!)
The Dividend Report 📊 (Free Newsletter for Straightforward Dividend Stock News)
Other News:
At the start of every month, I send out a newsletter to my paid newsletter subscribers with a list/spreadsheet of all the dividend stocks that I believe to be currently undervalued.
If you’d like to receive this sheet, you can sign up here:
That’s all for now!
See you next week!
Dividendology 🚀
The ASML holding perspective is very interesting and intuitive! I might looking into them as well!