Eli Lilly reported mixed results for the fourth quarter on Thursday, with strong demand for its weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro, but sales falling short due to lower prices for Mounjaro. While the company’s earnings exceeded Wall Street expectations, it faced a slight revenue miss.
The pharmaceutical giant posted quarterly earnings of $5.32 per share, above analysts’ forecasts of $4.95. However, its revenue came in at $13.53 billion, just under the expected $13.57 billion. Despite this, the company saw a 45% year-over-year revenue increase.
For the full year of 2025, Eli Lilly projected a profit of $22.05 to $23.55 per share, in line with analyst expectations. It also maintained its sales forecast of $58 billion to $61 billion, noting that it plans to launch Mounjaro in additional international markets throughout the year.
During an earnings call, Eli Lilly’s CFO, Lucas Montarce, expressed optimism, saying that the company expects continued growth for incretin drugs like Zepbound and Mounjaro in 2025.
Shares of Eli Lilly rose more than 4% following the report.
These results align with the preliminary figures released in January, which disappointed investors. At that time, the company lowered its 2024 revenue forecast, citing reduced demand for its weight loss and diabetes treatments.
Eli Lilly also announced plans to release late-stage data on its next-generation obesity drug, retatrutide, earlier than expected. Retatrutide works by mimicking three hunger-regulating hormones, offering a different approach compared to existing treatments.
For the fourth quarter, Mounjaro brought in $3.53 billion in sales, up 60% from the previous year. While this was a strong increase, it fell short of the $3.62 billion analysts had anticipated. The company attributed the growth to high demand and increased supply but noted that lower realized prices partially offset the gains.
Zepbound, which completed its first full year on the U.S. market, generated $1.91 billion in sales, falling short of the $1.98 billion analysts expected. Despite this, Montarce highlighted that Zepbound became the market leader in obesity treatments by new prescriptions in the fourth quarter.
Eli Lilly’s incretin drugs, which help regulate appetite and blood sugar, have faced supply challenges due to high demand. Both Eli Lilly and its competitor Novo Nordisk have invested heavily to expand production capacity. The FDA recently declared the shortage of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Zepbound and Mounjaro, over.
Looking ahead, Eli Lilly expects to produce at least 1.6 times the amount of incretin doses in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.
Eli Lilly’s older diabetes drug, Jardiance, exceeded expectations with $1.20 billion in sales, a 50% increase from last year. Analysts had expected $901.5 million. This growth included a $300 million one-time benefit from an amendment to the company’s partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim.
This year is crucial for Eli Lilly as it prepares to release clinical trial data for its experimental obesity pill, orforglipron, which is expected by mid-2025.
