Been looking at Hims & Hers lately and there's actually something interesting brewing here beyond the noise around their Novo Nordisk legal battle.

So what's the actual play? Hims & Hers basically figured out how to sell pharmaceuticals in a way that actually works for digital natives. Not revolutionary on paper, but the execution is what matters. They built a subscriber model instead of the traditional pharma distribution chain, which creates recurring revenue. That's the real edge.

The numbers are pretty wild if you think about it. They went from 300k subscribers at the end of 2020 to 2.5 million by end of 2025. Last year alone they added 280k+ new subscribers. Most of these customers aren't one-time buyers either - they're reordering regularly. That's the annuity-like income stream that makes growth investors pay attention.

With $5k you'd be looking at roughly 333 shares at recent prices around $15. The P/E is sitting at about 29x, which yeah, is elevated. But that's because the market sees what's happening with their expansion strategy. They're not just selling one product category anymore - they're broadening the whole offering as their brand gains consumer traction.

Obviously there are real headwinds. The Novo Nordisk lawsuit over GLP-1 copycat versions is the most visible one right now. Hims & Hers rode that supply shortage wave hard, but Novo's got supply back online now and they're pushing back legally. That's probably a temporary issue though, not the core story.

The bigger picture is whether this direct-to-consumer disruption in pharma actually sticks. Copycat competitors will come. Big pharma will resist. But if their subscriber base keeps growing the way it has been, those are just friction points, not deal breakers.

For value investors, pass - the valuation doesn't make sense from that lens. For growth investors though, there's something worth tracking here with Hims & Hers. Just go in knowing what you're betting on: not a stable pharma company, but a scaling DTC platform that's still proving whether it can maintain momentum.