Elly Lilly reported Q4 EPS of $5.32, $0.02 higher than the analyst estimate of $5.30.
Revenue for the quarter totaled $13.53B, compared to the average estimate of $13.78B.
Forecast:
Eli Lilly expects EPS of $22.50-24.00 in fiscal 2025. Analysts had expected an average of $22.69.
Eli Lilly estimates revenue of $58.00B-$61.00B in fiscal year 2025. Experts had expected an average of $58.91B.
The US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly expects significant profit growth in 2025 and is focusing on expanding its popular diabetes and weight loss drugs into new markets.
"We are starting 2025 with a strong tailwind," explained CEO David Ricks on Thursday. The manager anticipates an increase in adjusted earnings per share to between 22.50 and 24.00 dollars - analysts had previously expected 22.86 dollars.
Last year, earnings per share more than doubled to 12.99 dollars. "2024 was an extremely successful year for Lilly," said Ricks. The Group invested billions in expanding its production capacities and brought important new growth drivers onto the market.
The pharmaceutical company is flying high thanks to high demand for its diabetes drug Mounjaro and its weight loss injection Zepbound.
Sales rose by almost a third to a good 45 billion dollars in 2024. Sales of Mounjaro skyrocketed to 11.54 billion dollars from 5.16 billion dollars. Zepbound - which only came onto the market at the end of 2023 - earned the Group 4.93 billion dollars.
In the fourth quarter, however, sales of both drugs were below market expectations - a situation that the company had already warned about in January.
Lilly blames this on financial and logistical bottlenecks at wholesalers. However, some investors are also expressing concerns about declining demand for GLP-1 drugs, which include Zepbound and Novo Nordisk's rival product Wegovy.
Both suppliers currently dominate the rapidly growing market for weight loss drugs, which it is estimated could grow to 150 billion dollars by the early 2030s.