By Senad Karaahmetovic
Shares of Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) are moving lower in pre-market despite the company reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and raising its full-year EPS forecast.
Eli Lilly reported Q4 EPS of $2.09 on revenue of $7.3 billion, beating the consensus for earnings of $1.80 on revenue of $7.35B. Revenue fell nearly 9% as sales from Alimta plunged 46% to $236.6M.
Lilly said that, excluding revenue from COVID-19 antibodies, revenue in the U.S. increased by 11%. The company reaffirmed its prior full-year revenue forecast of $30.3B - $30.8B.
However, the pharma company boosted its FY EPS forecast to the range of $8.35-$8.55 from the prior $8.10-$8.30, beating the $8.28 consensus. The increase is a result of a reduced tax rate assumption.
Anat Ashkenazi, Lilly's executive vice president and chief financial officer, said: "As we closed out 2022, Lilly demonstrated strong growth and achieved meaningful pipeline progress that included the launch for Mounjaro in type 2 diabetes. We expect to capitalize on this momentum and deliver mid-teen revenue growth for our core business in 2023 while remaining committed to investing in innovation, late-stage opportunities, manufacturing capacity, and our people."