After three weeks of a severe technical retracement from an all-time high at $966 on July 15 to fresh dips below $750 in early August, Eli Lilly revealed itself once again as the most attractive company for mass. The company's new and popular weight loss treatment Mounjaro statistically results in a more remarkable growing thin effect than rivals' obesity drugs, in a real-world comparison across other benchmarks, including Novo Nordisk's obesity drug named Wegovy or Ozempic, which are actually two different brand names for the same injectable drug, semaglutide, AMA Internal Medicine journal reported about a month ago. Patients taking Mounjaro were 76% more likely to lose at least 5% of their body weight, more than twice as likely to lose at least 10%, and more than three times as likely to lose at least 15%, compared to patients taking the second place drug, researchers found after analysing weight loss trajectories in 9,193 patients. Mounjaro sales reached $3.1 billion, with best growth pace in the UK, UAE and Saudi Arabia markets, and now Eli Lilly additionally reports robust, and better than expected, financial growth.

Its quarterly EPS (equity per share) just came out at $3.92 on $11.3 billion of total sales vs nearly $2.75 per share on about $10 billion in consensus estimates, and also against $2.54 per share on $8.77 billion in the previously record quarter, meaning a 42.5% QoQ and a 85.2% YoY surplus in EPS. What a wonderful margin performance in a very challenging environment! Eli Lilly's CEOs revised their annual revenue outlook upwards to forecast it between $45.4 billion and $46.6 billion for 2024, following a 36% increase in revenue YoY so far and "with operating margins in the mid- to high-30s range". Revenue in Europe added 20% in constant currency, 15% in Japan and 61% in the "rest of the world" (outside the US. and the EU).

Eli Lilly's share price quickly soared to $875 to $905 resistance area before the weekend, while a rather sceptical Deutsche Bank immediately upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy with a 15% of additional upside potential to $1,025 at least and BMO Capital Markets provided its rosy path assessment with a new price target at $1,101 from $1,001. Even average expert poll projections are shifted to a $4.28 of EPS at nearly $12 billion of sales for Q3. And so, we do agree with a more optimistic outlook, feeling that the most prominent manufacturing expansion in the biopharma industry since the pandemic time should be given not only a praise but also monetary rewards. Its current supply capacity is 1.5 times above the level which was measured only 1.5 ago.

The company continues to invest heavily in its manufacturing and expansion, with over $18 billion committed to facilities and announced plans to put an extra $5.3 billion in its manufacturing sites in Indiana. It is ready to acquire Morphic Therapeutic as well to better withstand chronic diseases. It achieved "the approval of Kisunla, the brand name for donanemab in the US for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, the approval of Jaypirca in Japan for people with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma, the submission of tirzepatide in the U.S. and the EU for the treatment of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnoea in adults with obesity and the positive top line results from the SUMMIT Phase 3 trial evaluating tirzepatide in adults with heart failure with preserved injection fraction and obesity", according to last earnings call's materials. This is an impressive list of achievements to generate both more healthy life profits. Besides, Eli Lilly raises its dividend payment for 9 consecutive years. It now equals to $1.3 per share, maybe not much compared to the stock's price growth but is also a pleasant indication of the company's self-confidence.