Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) is preparing to report fourth-quarter earnings. In recent years, the drugmaker successfully diversified beyond the core business, and it looks poised to benefit from fast-growing diabetes and obesity drugs this year.
The Stock
Over the years, the performance of Eli Lilly’s stock has been marked by resilience and steady momentum. After entering 2024 on an upbeat note, LLY climbed to an all-time high this week. The stock maintained the uptrend since then and is likely to set new records in the coming months. The value has more than doubled since mid-2022. Past performance shows the shares have the potential to reward investors handsomely in the long term.
Eli Lilly will be reporting fourth-quarter results on February 6, at 6:30 a.m. ET. On average, analysts forecast a 22% annual growth in Q4 revenues to $8.93 billion. It is estimated that the strong top-line growth translated into a 5% increase in adjusted earnings to $2.19 per share.
DTC Push
Recently, the company launched LillyDirect, an online direct-to-customer platform to deliver its products, mainly diabetes, obesity, and migraine drugs. The company has been expanding its presence in the weight loss market lately, and the efforts got a boost last year after it acquired obesity drugmaker Versanis Bio. After a series of M&A deals and collaborations, the company’s leadership recently hinted at more partnerships in research and development.
“In Q3, we completed the divestiture of the olanzapine portfolio, which will further enable us to focus on our current and new product launches. The financial impact of this transaction is reflected in the Q3 results. Additionally, within the quarter, we completed the acquisition of 2 clinical state companies adding to our phase 2 portfolio, DICE Therapeutics, and Versanis Bio, as well as the acquisition of Emergence Therapeutics and Sigilon Therapeutics,” Eli Lilly’s CEO Dave Ricks said at the Q3 earnings call.
For the third quarter, the company reported mixed results – revenues jumped 37% year-over-year to $9.5 billion, while adjusted profit nearly halved to $0.10 per share. The results beat Wall Street’s projections. Lilly’s bottom-line performance was mixed so far in fiscal 2023 when compared to analysts’ estimates and prior-year numbers.
Broad-based Growth
Driving the top-line growth in Q3, Neuroscience revenue more than doubled and the Diabetes segment expanded an impressive 29%. Among the other businesses, sales of Immunology and Oncology products grew in double digits, while the Other division registered a 63% fall. Sales grew across all geographical divisions, except Japan.
In the past five months, Eli Lilly’s shares consistently stayed above their 52-week average. The stock traded up 1.9% on Thursday afternoon.