Eli Lilly stock steadies near record levels as obesity and diabetes drugs drive revenue growth

Eli Lilly & Co. (ISIN US5324571083) has seen Eli Lilly stock hold near historic highs on the New York Stock Exchange in 2024 as investors focus on the companys fast-growing obesity and diabetes portfolio and its expanding market capitalization, which reached well over $500 billion in recent months according to major market-data providers as of early 2024.

Revenue up more than 20 percent

According to the companys own reporting on its investor pages, Eli Lilly generated quarterly revenue of roughly $7.3 billion in one of its recent 2024 reporting periods, an increase of more than 20 percent compared with the same quarter a year earlier, driven largely by newer medicines in diabetes and obesity care and offsetting declines in some older products.

In the same quarter, Eli Lilly reported that net income attributable to shareholders was well above $2 billion, more than doubling versus the prior-year period as reported in its financial statements, helped by higher sales volumes and favorable product mix in key therapeutic areas.

Obesity drug sales rise sharply

The company has highlighted in its publications that sales of its once-weekly obesity treatment, part of its incretin-based portfolio, more than doubled year on year in a recent quarter, reaching several billion dollars in revenue and helping obesity and diabetes drugs account for a significantly higher share of total sales compared with 2023.

Eli Lilly has also indicated in its guidance commentary that, based on current trends, revenue from its leading GLP-1 and related incretin products in obesity and diabetes could reach tens of billions of dollars annually over the medium term, compared with only a few billion dollars in these categories just a couple of years earlier.

Key products fuel growth

Eli Lillys portfolio ranges from oncology medicines to immunology therapies, but in recent quarters the company itself has emphasized that its incretin-based diabetes and obesity treatments are the main engine of top-line expansion, delivering multibillion-dollar quarterly sales that are running far above the levels recorded in 2022 and earlier.

Eli Lilly stock and valuation

On the equity market, Eli Lilly stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange and, based on recent quote information from major financial portals in 2024, has been changing hands at a price that implies a market capitalization exceeding $500 billion, placing the company among the worlds most valuable healthcare groups by equity value.