Lilly Chair and CEO Dave Ricks speaks during a press conference for Eli Lilly and Company in Houston, Texas, U.S., Sept. 23, 2025.
Antranik Tavitian | Reuters
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:
- Earnings per share: $7.02 adjusted vs. $5.69 expected
- Revenue: $17.60 billion vs. $16.01 billion expected
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. Eli Lilly took another stride to boost access to Zepbound on Wednesday, partnering with Walmart to offer in-store pickup of discounted vials of the drug for cash-paying patients.
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.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
