8. Eli Lilly And Co. (NYSE:LLY)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 100
Eli Lilly And Co. (NYSE:LLY) is a major pharmaceutical company that develops and manufactures medicines. It specializes in treatments for various diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and mental health disorders. Some of its well-known drugs include insulin products, treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, and medications for autoimmune diseases. The company continues to invest heavily in research and development to address significant health challenges globally.
It had a strong third quarter for the year 2024, with revenue growing 42% after excluding the divested olanzapine portfolio. Overall revenue growth for the quarter was 20.43% and its revenue amounted to $11.44 billion. New products like Mounjaro and Zepbound, two weight loss medications, drove over $3 billion in growth, with strong US demand and expanding access. The company is on track to exceed the production target for incretin medicines, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, in H2 2024.
While supply and channel dynamics impacted Q3 sales of Mounjaro and Zepbound, Eli Lilly And Co. (NYSE:LLY) is investing heavily to increase production and accelerate demand generation. The company is confident in its ability to exceed its production goals and drive future growth.
PGIM Jennison Health Sciences Fund stated the following regarding Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is a diversified biopharmaceutical company with core franchises in Diabetes, Obesity, Immunology, Neurodegeneration, and Oncology. The company is one of the two global leaders in diabetes with blockbuster products in Trulicity and recently launched Mounjaro (tirzepatide) to serve this large underserved market. To date, the Mounjaro launch is the strongest for any diabetes drug ever launched, which we attribute to off label usage in the obesity indication as well as on label use in diabetes. We believe the tirzepatide (the generic name for Mounjaro) franchise is also uniquely positioned to grow substantially from here thanks to its recent approval for obesity. To that note, in late 2023, Eli Lilly received approval for tirzepatide in obesity and is commercializing it for obesity under a new brand name, Zepbound. While still early in the launch, uptake has been extremely strong, exceeding that of both Wegovy and Mounjaro at the same timepoint in their launches. While Alzheimer’s Disease has been a tough market for drug developers, Eli Lilly has breakthrough designation from the food and drug administration (FDA) for donanemab and recently presented Phase III pivotal trial data that positions donanemab as the most efficacious drug in the class. In June, the FDA advisory committee voted unanimously in favor of donanemab as an effective treatment where the benefits outweigh the risks, praising the therapy as innovative. Donanemab was then approved under the brand name Kisunla in early July. Eli Lilly also has exciting franchises in dermatology, immunology, and oncology that are starting to add meaningfully to growth. With a proven history of strong commercial execution and one of the highest research and development (R&D) success rates in the industry, we see opportunity for continued success. With a lack of meaningful patent expirations for the rest of the decade. Eli Lilly is uniquely positioned amongst its larger-cap peers. Recent positive performance has been driven by the continued strong growth of Mounjaro and Zepbound, which led to a big guidance raise on the 1Q call, an unusual action for Eli Lilly this early in the year, which speaks to their confidence in the strong trends they are seeing.”
