Eli Lilly blows past estimates, hikes guidance as Zepbound and Mounjaro sales soar

Eli Lilly on Thursday reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that topped estimates and hiked its full-year outlook, as the company continued to see strong demand for its blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro.

Shares of the company rose 5% in premarket trading Thursday.

The pharmaceutical giant now expects its fiscal 2025 revenue to come in between $63 billion and $63.5 billion, up from a previous guidance of $60 to $62 billion. Eli Lilly also expects full-year adjusted profit to come in between $23 and $23.70 per share, up from its previous outlook of $21.75 to $23 a share.

Eli Lilly said the guidance reflects President Donald Trump's existing tariffs as of Thursday, but does not include his threatened levies on pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S.

Mounjaro raked in $6.52 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 109% from the same period a year ago. That blew past the $5.51 billion that analysts were expecting, according to StreetAccount. 

Zepbound, which entered the market roughly two years ago, posted $3.57 billion in revenue for the third quarter. That's up 184% from the year-earlier period and slightly ahead of the $3.5 billion that Wall Street was expecting, according to StreetAccount estimates.

Here's what Eli Lilly reported for the third quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: 

The results come as Eli Lilly works to maintain its edge over chief rival Novo Nordisk in the booming market for a class of obesity and diabetes drugs called GLP-1s.

The company posted third-quarter revenue of $17.60 billion, up 54% from the same period a year ago. 

Sales in the U.S. jumped 45% to $11.30 billion. Eli Lilly said that was driven by a 60% increase in volume — or the number of prescriptions or units sold — for its products, primarily for Mounjaro and Zepbound. That was partially offset by lower realized prices of the drugs, the company said.

The pharmaceutical giant booked net income of $5.58 billion, or $6.21 per share, for the third quarter. That compares with net income of $970.3 million, or $1.07 per share, a year earlier. 

Excluding one-time items associated with the value of intangible assets and other adjustments, Eli Lilly posted earnings of $7.02 per share for the second quarter.

The results underscore Eli Lilly's strong advantage in the booming GLP-1 drug market.

The company has gained the majority market share over the last year, thanks to the strong profile of its weight loss and diabetes injections and a boost from its direct-to-consumer sales, among other efforts. The company is now betting on its closely-watched experimental obesity pill, orforglipron, to solidify its dominance in the space, especially as Novo Nordisk and other drugmakers race to bring their own pills or next-generation injections to the market. 

On Thursday, Novo Nordisk launched a rival bid for U.S. obesity biotech company Metsera, hijacking an offer from Pfizer as it races to catch up to Eli Lilly.

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