Shares of Eli Lilly and Co. rallied toward yet another record close on Tuesday, after the drug maker’s fourth-quarter profit beat expectations, helped by a 16% jump in overall prices, including a 27% increase in the U.S.
The company said the rise in U.S. realized prices was driven by its diabetes treatment Mounjaro, partially offset by lower prices for its diabetes treatments Humalog and Trulicity. Excluding Mounjaro, realized prices in the U.S. fell by a “high-single digits” percentage.
Lilly’s stock
LLY,
surged 4.6% in premarket trading, putting it on track to book a fifth straight record close. The stock has climbed 9.5% over the past four sessions.
For the fourth quarter, net income rose to $2.19 billion, or $2.42 a share, from $1.94 billion, or $2.14 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $2.49 beat the FactSet consensus of $2.30.
Revenue jumped 28.1% to $9.35 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $8.95 billion, as realized prices increased 16%, volume rose 11% and currency translation added 1% growth.
In the U.S., revenue grew 39% to $6.46 billion, as prices rose 27% and volume increased 21%. Outside of the U.S., revenue was up 10% to $2.9 billion, as prices fell 3% while volume increased 10% and foreign exchange rates provided a 3% boost.
Mounjaro was Lilly’s biggest-selling drug, as sales soared to $2.21 billion from $279.2 million, well above the FactSet consensus of $1.82 billion.
Trulicity sales dropped 13.8% to $1.67 billion and Humalog sales slid 33.1% to $366.6 million.
Sales of the company’s obesity drug Zepbound, which received regulatory approval in November, totaled $175.8 million.
Also read: Eli Lilly launches home delivery of obesity drug Zepbound — but warns against its use for cosmetic weight loss.
For 2024, the company expects adjusted EPS of $12.20 to $12.70, which surrounds the current FactSet consensus of $12.39. Revenue is expected to rise to between $40.4 billion and $41.6 billion from $34.12 billion in 2023. The FactSet revenue consensus is $39.3 billion.
The stock has run up 18.7% over the past three months through Monday, while the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF
XLV
has advanced 11.1% and the S&P 500 index
SPX,
has climbed 13.2%.
