Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) shares ticked up this morning on fourth-quarter results that beat the consensus forecast.
The Indianapolis-based company posted profits of $2.1 billion or $2.32 per share, on sales of $7.4 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2020, for a 41.5% bottom-line gain on sales growth of 21.7%.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $2.75, 40¢ ahead of Wall Street, where analysts were looking for sales of $7.3 billion.
The company’s quarter included receiving FDA emergency use authorization (EUA) for both bamlanivimab and baricitinib (the latter for use in combination with remdesivir) in COVID-19 patients. Bamlanivimab, a COVID-19 antibody treatment, is for mild-to-moderate cases at risk of progresing to severe COVID-19, while baricitinib’s indication is for hospitalized patients who require supplemental oxygen, ventilation or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.
“Lilly closed a complex year by delivering impressive results in the fourth quarter of 2020,” Eli Lilly chairman & CEO David A. Ricks said in a news release. “We finished the year with strong momentum in our core business areas, as volume-based revenue growth for our newest medicines and initial sales of our COVID-19 antibody therapy, coupled with our ongoing productivity agenda, drove robust margin expansion and solid earnings growth. I am also encouraged by exciting recent data readouts for three of our most important pipeline assets: tirzepatide, LOXO-305 and donanemab.
“Each of these potential medicines has a chance to significantly improve patient outcomes in areas of high unmet medical need, and, should they go on to receive approvals, reinforce our growth prospects for the decade ahead.”
Eli Lilly said it now expects to log adjusted EPS in the range of $7.75 to $8.40 for financial year 2021.
LLY shares were up 2.3% at $215 per share in early-morning trading today. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — was virtually unmoved.
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