Lilly stock soars to all-time high on strong sales, led by Mounjaro

Shares of Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. soared to an all-time high Tuesday morning after the company reported that its new diabetes drug Mounjaro pulled in nearly $1 billion in the second quarter, lifting the drugmaker’s sales and profit.

Lilly also raised its annual sales and profit forecasts and sounded optimistic about its drug pipeline, which has already delivered more than 20 new drugs to market in the past decade.

Lilly shares were trading at $535.59 each, up 18% or $81.51, making it one of the top performers on Wall Street.

That lifted Lilly’s market value to $507 billion, the highest of any company in the health care sector.

Much of the excitement is due to high expectations for Mounjaro, which hit the market in June 2022 as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes. The drug rang up $979.7 million in the quarter, placing it firmly in blockbuster territory (drugs that sell $1 billion or more in a year). For the first six months of this year, Mounjaro has sold $1.55 billion.

The drug, which has shown promise as a weight-loss treatment, is selling faster than Lilly can make it, creating delays in fulfilling orders, the company said. Federal regulators are expected to approve it to treat obesity this year, and doctors are already prescribing it off-label for weight loss.

“We do expect strong growth to continue in the quarters ahead,” CEO Dave Ricks told analysts in a conference call.

The company also is awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration for an experimental drug for Alzheimer’s disease, another huge potential sales market. Earlier this year, Lilly reported that the drug, called donanemab, can modestly slow patients’ inevitable worsening by about four to seven months.

Revenue for the second quarter climbed 28%, to $8.3 billion, higher than Wall Street estimates of $7.6 billion. Earnings per share, adjusted for one-time events, were $2.11, higher than estimates of $1.98 a share.

In addition to Mounjaro, Lilly said other drugs sold briskly in the second quarter. They included cancer drug Verzenio (up 57%), diabetes drug Jardiance (up 45%) and psoriasis drug Taltz (up 16%).

At the same time, sales of several older or discontinued products fell in the quarter, including cancer drug Alimta (down 73%), diabetes drug Humalog (down 1%) and COVID-19 antibodies (down 100%).

Lilly increased its full-year revenue guidance by $2.2 billion, to the range of $33.4 billion to $33.9 billion. It increased its earnings-per-share guidance to the range of $9.20 to $9.40 on a reported basis and $9.70 to $9.90 on an adjusted basis.