GSK has handed investors a remarkable run. Over the past year, the stock climbed roughly 44% from $37.79 to $54.51. If you watched from the sidelines, the question now is painfully familiar: did I miss it, or is there still a trade here?
Let’s work through it.
Valuation: Cheaper Than You Think
Here’s the surprising part. Despite the big run, GSK doesn’t look expensive. The trailing P/E sits at 14.6x with a PEG ratio of just 0.499. A PEG below 1.0 generally signals a stock growing faster than its multiple implies. For context, the broader pharmaceuticals sector trades at a premium to that.
The dividend yield of 3.27% adds another layer of comfort for retirement-focused investors. GSK just raised its dividend to 70p for 2026, a 6% increase, with a next payment date of April 9, 2026.
The one caution on valuation: the forward P/E jumps to 21.41x, which tells you the market is pricing in meaningful earnings growth. That’s not unreasonable given the pipeline, but it does mean execution risk is now baked in. Miss a quarter and the stock gives some of this back.
Forward Catalysts: The Pipeline Is the Story
This is where GSK earns its premium. CEO Luke Miels was direct on the Q4 earnings call:
“GSK delivered another strong performance in 2025, driven mainly by Specialty Medicines, with double-digit sales growth in Respiratory, Immunology & Inflammation, Oncology and HIV.”
Oncology sales were up 42% to £567 million. HIV grew 11% for the year, with long-acting injectables now representing roughly a third of U.S. sales. The company completed the $2.2 billion acquisition of RAPT Therapeutics on March 3, 2026, adding a late-stage food allergy antibody to the pipeline. A $950 million deal for 35Pharma followed days later, targeting a pulmonary hypertension market projected at $18 billion by 2032.
Bepirovirsen, GSK’s potential functional cure for chronic hepatitis B, was accepted for expedited review in Japan in February 2026. The company’s long-term target of £40 billion in annual revenue by 2031 isn’t a moonshot — it’s a structured roadmap through new launches, acquisitions, and pipeline readouts.
Management also put money where its mouth is. Multiple executives purchased shares in February and March near current prices, and the company has executed over 5.8 million shares in buybacks between February 17 and March 7, 2026.
Risk and Entry: Where It Gets Real
The stock pulled back nearly 8% in the past week, from $59.13 to $54.51. That pullback is actually doing you a favor as a new buyer.
The bigger risk is currency. GSK reports in Sterling, and with GBP/USD at 1.3357, a strengthening pound creates a meaningful headwind on reported results. Management flagged a potential negative impact of roughly 3% on sales and 6% on operating profit if rates hold at late-January levels.
Analyst consensus sits at “Reduce” with an average target of $44.13, well below current prices. That’s a meaningful gap you shouldn’t ignore. But analyst consensus has been wrong on GSK for 12 months running.
The Verdict
No, it’s not too late. GSK at current prices offers a reasonable valuation, a growing dividend, and one of the most active pipelines in large-cap pharma. The recent pullback gives you a better entry than buyers got a week ago. Buy GSK if you believe the pipeline execution continues and you’re comfortable holding through currency volatility — the income and the long-term growth story both support a position here.
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