Eli Lilly reported mixed results for the fourth quarter on Thursday, even when the demand for its great success of weight loss drugs and diabetes treatment shot.
The company's quarterly profits exceeded Wall Street estimates, but sales fell short when Mounjar saw lower prices. Zepbound and Mounjaro have now had a lower performance of expectations during two consecutive quarters, and the company previously pointed to problems related to the inventory of wholesalers.
The pharmaceutical giant also issued a fiscal tax earning guide from $ 22.05 to $ 23.55 per share, which is in line with what analysts expected. Eli Lilly reiterated his 2025 fiscal sales guide from $ 58 billion to $ 61 billion, noting that he hopes to launch Mounjaro in new international markets throughout the year.
Eli Lilly expects to see “a continuation basically of the total prescription growth that we have seen in 2024” for medications for incretin such as Zepbound and Mounjaro “, so that is what we build in our 2025 guide for the market”, CFO Lucas Mountice of the company said during a profit call on Thursday.
Eli Lilly's shares rose more than 4% on Thursday.
The figures were consistent with the preliminary results that Eli Lilly shared in January, which disappointed investors. Eli Lilly had reduced his income guide from 2024, since he said that the demand for his weight loss and diabetes medications would not meet their high expectations.
In particular, Eli Lilly said he plans to report late data about his next generation obesity drugs at the end of this year, a few months earlier than expected. The reluctant works differently from any of the treatments in the market, imitating three different hunger regulatory hormones: LPG-1, GIP and glucagon.
This is what Eli Lilly reported for the fourth quarter compared to what Wall Street expected, based on a LSEG analysts survey:
- Profit per action: $ 5.32 adjusted compared to $ 4.95 expected
- Revenue: $ 13.53 billion compared to $ 13.57 billion expected
The company registered income from the fourth quarter of $ 13.53 billion, an increase of 45% since the same period of the previous year.
The pharmaceutical giant reserved a net income of $ 4.41 billion, or $ 4.88 per share, for the fourth quarter. That is compared with a gain of $ 2.19 billion, or $ 2.42 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding unique articles associated with the value of intangible assets and other adjustments, Eli Lilly recorded $ 5.32 for action for the fourth quarter of 2024.
Zepbound, Mounjaro's performance
A Zepbound Eli Lilly & Co. injection pen organized in the Brooklyn district in New York on March 28, 2024.
Shelby Knowles | Bloomberg | Getty images
Mounjaro registered $ 3.53 billion in revenues for the fourth quarter, 60% more than the annual period more than year. Analysts expected the medicine to reserve $ 3.62 billion in sales for the quarter, according to Streetacount.
Eli Lilly said the increase reflects a strong demand and a greater supply of Mounjaro, but was partially compensated for lower prices made due to “favorable changes” in the fourth quarter of 2023 to estimate refunds and discounts.
Meanwhile, the results limit Zepbound's first year in the US market. The weekly injection raised $ 1.91 billion in sales for the fourth quarter, which is below the $ 1.98 billion that analysts expected, according to Streetacount.
Montece said that Zepbound became the market leader in the obesity market in the fourth quarter, measured by new recipes.
But the demand in the United States has still exceeded the supply for incredine drugs of Eli Lilly, such as Zepbound and Mounjaro, during the last year. Both treatments mimic intestinal hormones to reduce a person's appetite and regulate their blood sugar.
The popularity of these injectable drugs has forced both Eli Lilly and his rival Novo Nordisk Invest billions to increase the manufacturing capacity for their treatments. The efforts seem to be paying off: the Food and Drug Administration in December reaffirmed its decision to declare the shortage of the US Tirzepaturo, the active ingredient in Zepbound and Mounjaro, on.
Eli Lilly estimated on Thursday that it will produce at least 1.6 times the amount of incredine dose in the first half of 2025 compared to the first half of 2024.
The Sales of Drugs of Major Diabetes de Eli Lilly exceeded estimates for the fourth quarter. Jardiance raised $ 1.20 billion in revenues for the period, 50% more than the quarter of the year won per year. Analysts were waiting for sales of $ 901.5 million, according to estreetacount estimates.
This growth includes a unique benefit of $ 300 million due to an amendment to Eli Lilly's collaboration with its Jardiance Boehringer Ingelheim partner.
The results also initiate a critical year for Eli Lilly, which is scheduled to release data from clinical trials observed on its experimental obesity pill, orforglipron. These results are expected in the middle of the year.
