Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY) reported much stronger-than-expected earnings for the fiscal Q2 2024 and raised its guidance for the full year.
The drugmaker’s shares surged more than 10% at the Thursday market open.
For the second quarter, Lilly posted earnings per share (EPS) of $3.92, significantly above the consensus estimate of $2.75. Revenue rose to $11.3 billion, also exceeding analyst estimates.
Revenue for its Trulicity treatment was $1.25 billion, a 31% decrease year-over-year, and falling short of the estimated $1.46 billion.
Meanwhile, the blockbuster weight-loss drug Mounjaro generated $3.09 billion in revenue, outperforming the estimate of $2.37 billion.
Verzenio's revenue was $1.33 billion, marking a 44% increase year-over-year, and surpassing the estimate of $1.23 billion.
Revenue from Zepbound stood at $1.24 billion.
The company's gross margin stood at 80.8%, compared to 78.3% year-over-year, slightly below the estimate of 81.1%.
Eli Lilly hiked its full-year EPS guidance by $2.05 to a new range of $15.10 to $15.60. The non-GAAP EPS guidance was also raised by $2.60, now ranging from $16.10 to $16.60, compared to the consensus of $13.76.
In addition, the company increased its full-year revenue guidance for 2024 by $3 billion, now expecting FY2024 revenue to be between $45.4 billion and $46.6 billion, versus the consensus of $43.01 billion.
"The quality of this print is striking," analysts at BMO Capital Markets said in a note.
"Lilly is pulling ahead in the metabolic duopoly. Key topics for call are donanemab adcom, immunology updates," they added.
In the earnings statement, David A. Ricks, Lilly's chair and CEO said:
"Mounjaro, Zepbound and Verzenio led our strong financial performance in the second quarter as we advanced our manufacturing expansion agenda, and it is equally exciting to see the growth around the world of our medicines for cancer, neurological disorders and autoimmune diseases."
"We also recently received approval of Kisunla to help people with Alzheimer's disease, a moment that was decades in the making," he added.