Forecasts shift upward after a strong quarter
Eli Lilly more than doubled its profits in the first quarter of 2026, as surging demand for its weight-loss and diabetes drugs prompted the Indianapolis-based drugmaker to raise its full-year financial forecasts.
The company’s two flagship GLP-1 products – Mounjaro, a diabetes injection also used for weight management, and Zepbound, a weight-loss injection – together generated $12.9 billion in sales for the quarter. Mounjaro revenue more than doubled to $8.7 billion from $3.8 billion in the same period last year, while Zepbound sales climbed 83% to $4.2 billion from $2.3 billion, both surpassing Wall Street expectations.
Lilly’s total first-quarter revenue reached $19.8 billion, well ahead of a FactSet analyst estimate of $17.8 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $8.55, compared with a FactSet estimate of $6.97, according to MarketWatch. Net income was $7.4 billion.
Following the results, the company raised its 2026 revenue forecast to a range of $82 billion to $85 billion, up from a prior range of $80 billion to $83 billion. It also lifted its adjusted earnings-per-share outlook to $35.50 to $37.00, from $33.50 to $35.00. Lilly’s shares rose nearly 10% on the day of the announcement, though the stock remains down roughly 20% for the year.
“After a weaker start to 2026, first-quarter results firmly put concerns to bed, with strength across the business,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman said, as quoted by Reuters.
Attention has since turned to Foundayo, Lilly’s new oral weight-loss pill launched April 9 and not included in the first-quarter figures. The company said more than 20,000 patients have received a Foundayo prescription, and that more than 80% of those patients were new to GLP-1 drugs altogether, suggesting the pill is expanding the market rather than drawing users away from existing products.
“Pretty much every time we reduce pricing, we see a pretty large expansion,” Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said during the earnings call.
Still, early prescription data showed Foundayo trailing the initial uptake of Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy, which launched in January. Foundayo recorded 3,707 total prescriptions in its second week, compared with 18,410 for the Wegovy pill in the same period, according to IQVIA data.
Lilly and Novo Nordisk are competing in a weight-loss drug market that analysts expect could reach $150 billion annually within the next decade, Reuters reported.
