Eli Lilly hikes 2025 outlook, tops quarterly estimates as Mounjaro, Zepbound sales soar

Eli Lilly on Thursday hiked its 2025 guidance and posted second-quarter earnings that topped estimates on strong demand for its blockbuster weight loss and diabetes drugs.

The company raised its fiscal 2025 sales guidance to $60 billion to $62 billion, from a previous outlook of $58 billion to $61 billion on underlying strength across its business. The pharmaceutical giant also expects its adjusted fiscal 2025 earnings to come in between $21.75 to $23, up from a previous guidance of $20.78 and $22.28 per share. 

Eli Lilly said the guidance does not include President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S.

Sales of Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro, which share the same active ingredient, beat Wall Street’s expectations for the second quarter.

Also on Thursday, Eli Lilly released long-awaited late-stage trial data on its experimental obesity pill, orforglipron, the highest dose of which helped patients lose more than 12% of their body weight. That came under Wall Street’s expectations, sending shares down more than 12% in premarket trading on Thursday.

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

• Earnings per share: $6.31 adjusted vs. $5.57 expected
• Revenue: $15.56 billion vs. $14.71 billion expected

The results also come as Eli Lilly and other drugmakers brace for levies on pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S. and face his calls to lower drug prices in the country.

The president sent letters to Eli Lilly and other companies last week calling on them take steps to lower drug prices by Sept. 29. The move came after Trump in May signed an executive order reviving a controversial plan, the “most favored nation” policy, that aims to slash drug costs by tying the prices of some medicines in the U.S. to the significantly lower ones abroad.