Eli Lilly’s stock reached an all-time high on Thursday, bolstered by a much better-than-anticipated earnings report driven by the success of its weight loss drugs, Mounjaro and Zepbound.
The share price surged by 6%, bringing the company’s overall valuation to an impressive $1.3 trillion after it updated its full-year earnings forecast upward.
Sales performance for both Mounjaro and Zepbound exceeded expectations by more than 5%, reinforcing Eli Lilly’s dominant position within the expanding obesity drug market.
As for the usage stats, over half a million patients are currently receiving these injections through Medicare. With the lowered price of $50 a month, there were concerns among investors about potential profit losses, yet Eli Lilly managed to increase its projected annual revenue by 1% to $92 billion.
This report shows just how significant a lead the company has in the booming GLP-1 market. To put it into perspective, its rival Novo Nordisk, which manufactures WeGovy, is currently valued at around $171 billion, according to reports.
Meanwhile, Lilly’s recent acquisitions of psychedelic medicine company AtaiBeckley and biotech vaccine firm Cuervo have slightly tempered profit predictions, as the company has lowered its expected profit shares by 50 cents.
Despite this, the increase in the annual forecast appears to be reassuring investors about the company’s direction. Greg Halter, a research director at Carnegie Investment Counsel, believes the firm is setting itself up for long-term success.
“They’re spending now to earn more later,” Halter, a holder of over 16,000 shares in Eli Lilly, commented.
Investors are particularly keen on Lilly’s new oral weight-loss medication, Foundayo, and how it stacks up against Novo’s oral Wegovy, which currently leads in prescriptions. While studies indicate that oral Wegovy users lost approximately 14% of their body weight over 64 weeks, those taking Foundayo experienced around an 11% reduction over 72 weeks.
Interestingly, sales of Foundayo fell about 15% short of expectations in the last quarter. However, there’s some optimism that it could perform better abroad—Foundayo was launched in the UK earlier this year and is expected to roll out in other European markets by year’s end.
