Shares in pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (LLY) gained 8% after the firm raised its 2026 profit guidance. That took its market cap to $968 billion, making it the next company in contention for a $1 trillion valuation.
| Share price: $1,080 (+8%) | PE: 48x |
| Market cap: $968bn | Yield: 0.55% |
WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS LEAD
Eli Lilly raised its FY26 outlook after reporting a strong end to FY25 thanks to sales of weight-loss drugs. Q4 revenue leapt 43% to $19.29 billion, well above the Wall Street consensus of $17.94 billion.
US revenue was up 43%, driven by a 50% increase in volumes, with a small decrease in average selling prices. Non-US revenue was also up 43% thanks to volume growth of 38% and a 4% currency tailwind.
Revenue from its weight-loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound more than doubled last year, the company said. Mounjaro sales spiked to from $3.53 billion to $7.41 billion, while Zepbound sales rose from $1.91 billion to $4.26 billion.
For 2026, Lilly said it expected revenue of between $80 billion and $83 billion, up 2% to 27% on FY25. That was well ahead of the market consensus of $77.6 billion.
Lilly’s upbeat forecast contrasted sharply with weight-loss rival Novo Nordisk’s downbeat prediction for FY26. The Danish drugmaker expects sales this year to be down between 5% and 13% due to lower prices.
The gap between Lilly and Novo just keeps getting wider, helped in part by the former’s domestic performance. US sales, which make up two thirds of the group total, increased by 50% in volume terms last year.
The firm increased its manufacturing capacity and opened new access to its anti-obesity treatments. That allowed it to reach millions more patients than it had previously.
For this year, the firm aims to reach even more patients with its LillyDirect platform and new drug launches. It looks fairly certain the pharma giant will be one of the next stocks sporting a $1 trillion price tag.
Read the press release here: https://investor.lilly.com/
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