Eli Lilly blows past quarterly estimates, hikes outlook as Zepbound and Mounjaro sales skyrocket

Eli Lilly on Thursday reported first-quarter earnings and revenue that blew past estimates and hiked its full-year sales outlook by $2 billion, as demand for its blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro spiked again.

The pharmaceutical giant now expects 2026 revenue to come in between $82 billion and $85 billion, up from previous guidance of $80 billion to $83 billion.

Lilly also projects its full-year adjusted profit to be between $35.50 to $37 per share. That compares with a previous outlook of $33.50 to $35 per share. 

Resilient demand for Zepbound and Mounjaro has helped fuel several strong quarters for Lilly despite lower prices for the medications in the U.S.

Mounjaro’s worldwide revenue rose 125% to $8.66 billion for the quarter, including U.S. sales of $4.2 billion. That surpassed the $7.26 billion in worldwide sales that analysts were expecting for the quarter, according to StreetAccount.

Zepbound, which entered the market roughly three years ago, posted $4.16 billion in U.S. revenue for the first quarter. That’s up 80% from the year-earlier period, as demand for the drug also rose while realized prices dropped. Analysts were expecting $4.04 billion in U.S. sales for Zepbound, according to StreetAccount.

Lilly is working to maintain its dominance in the booming market for GLP-1 drugs, with the company holding 60.1% share of the U.S. obesity and diabetes drug market in the first quarter, according to an earnings presentation. Novo Nordisk’s market share in the quarter was 39.4%.

Here’s what Eli Lilly reported for the first quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: 

• Earnings per share: $8.55 adjusted vs. $6.66 expected
• Revenue: $19.80 billion vs. $17.62 billion expected

Shares of Lilly rose more than 8% in morning trading Thursday.

The company posted first-quarter revenue of $19.80 billion, up 56% from the same period a year ago. 

“Impressively, it’s like our fifth or sixth quarter in a row posting really strong topline growth numbers,” Lilly CEO Dave Ricks told CNBC in an exclusive interview Thursday. “That’s not usually something that pharmaceutical companies of our size do.”

Revenue in the U.S. climbed 43% to $12.1 billion. Eli Lilly said that was driven by a 49% 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 Zepbound and another medication for psoriatic arthritis and other conditions, the company said.

Notably, revenue outside the U.S. jumped 81% to $7.7 billion, propelled by a 95% surge in volume and partly offset by lower realized prices.

Ricks said Lilly had slowed down introductions in global markets when it experienced supply constraints in late 2024. But he said now Lilly is hitting its third or fourth quarter in the major markets across Europe, China and Brazil, where many patients are paying out of pocket.

“As those launches hit stride, you’re seeing the depth and breadth of the consumer market here,” Ricks said, referring to international markets.

The pharmaceutical giant booked net income of $7.40 billion, or $8.26 per share, for the first quarter. That compares with net income of $2.76 billion, or $3.06 per share, a year earlier. 

Excluding one-time items associated with the value of intangible assets and other adjustments, Eli Lilly posted earnings of $8.55 per share for the first quarter.

The company’s newly approved GLP-1 pill for obesity, Foundayo, launched in the second quarter, so its sales are not included in Thursday’s report.

Still, the pill’s rollout is likely to dominate the discussion during Lilly’s first-quarter earnings call. Executives will likely face questions about whether Foundayo can reach the same level of momentum as the rival Wegovy pill from Novo Nordisk, which benefited from a three-month head start in the U.S.

In his interview with CNBC on Thursday, Ricks said more than 20,000 people have started taking Foundayo in its first few weeks on the market. More than 1,000 people a day are starting the drug, he added.

He said 80% of patients taking the drug are new to taking GLP-1s.

Ricks added that the company needs to build consumer awareness around Foundayo, noting that the company has not advertised it on TV.

“So what we’re seeing now is basically organic demand, which is really strong to us,” Ricks said.

In February, Lilly said it expects to benefit from Foundayo’s launch, Medicare coverage of obesity drugs coming online later this year, and continued worldwide demand for Mounjaro and Zepbound. But the company also expects to face pricing pressure, driven by a drug pricing deal with President Donald Trump and lower cash-pay prices for Zepbound, among other factors. 

Still, Ricks said in an interview in late April that he expects lower prices to accelerate prescription volumes in the U.S. He also estimated that global GLP-1 use will rise from approximately 20 million patients at the end of last year to 30 million at the end of 2026.

— CNBC’s Angelica Peebles contributed to this report.

Correction: Lilly posted first-quarter revenue of $19.80 billion, up 56% from the same period a year ago. An earlier version misstated the time frame.