Eli Lilly hikes sales guidance by $2bn, shares jump

Shares in Eli Lilly jumped on Wall Street on Tuesday after the American pharma giant beat quarterly profit forecasts and hiked its full-year sales guidance by $2bn, helped by surging demand for its weight-loss drug Zepbound.

The company is now guiding to full-year revenues of $42.4bn-$43.6bn, from $40.4bn-$41.6bn previously, while earnings per share guidance has been hiked to $13.05-13.55, from $11.80-12.30 previously.

The consensus estimate prior to Tuesday's results was for group revenues of $41.4bn and earnings of $12.50 a share.

The upgrade was driven by strong performances of Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro along with greater visibility into production expansion for the remainder of the year, with both drugs currently in short supply in the US market.

Mounjaro sales jumped to $1.81bn in the period, up from $569m the year before, while Zepbound – which only launched in November 2023 – generated revenue of $517m.

Eli Lilly reported first-quarter revenues of $8.77bn, up 26% year-on-year, while earnings per share surged 59% to $2.58. While sales came in slightly short of the $8.92bn market forecasts, earnings beat the $2.46 estimate.

"Our progress in addressing some of the world's most significant health care challenges has resulted in increased demand for our medicines," said chief executive and chair David Ricks.

"As we continue to make pipeline investments that position us for future growth, we are rapidly expanding manufacturing capacity to make our incretin medicines available to more patients."

The stock was up 6.3% at $783.30 by 1047 in New York.