We recently published a list of Jim Cramer is Talking About 10 Falling Stocks Amid Latest Market Rotation. Since Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE:LLY) ranks 8th on the list, it deserves a deeper look.
Jim Cramer in a program last week tried to make sense of the decline in tech stocks, saying companies with the “best fundamentals” got “hammered once again.”
“I did not expect that to happen.”
Cramer said that sometimes it’s difficult to own the “winners.” The CNBC host said it’s important to understand the bear cases around stocks otherwise you will never know what “you are up against.”
Jim Cramer tried to find out whether the latest decline in top tech stocks was just a “periodic selloff” that presented an “opportunity.”
“When we get this kind of rotation, you never know whether these stocks are selling off because there’s something wrong or because they are up huge.”
Jim Cramer pointed to a caveat when it comes to holding winning stocks. When you have the losers, there are no profits, but when you own winners in your portfolio, you can see losses because people want to take some profits off the table, Cramer said.
The CNBC host said when top stocks go down, people holding those in their portfolios often end up thinking about whether they should also sell these stocks and if something has “changed.”
“From what I can tell you, nothing has changed about the stocks we are going talk about tonight. But it is true that the stocks are a heck of a lot more expensive than they were one year ago.”
In this program, we took a look at some top tech stocks that fell last week and explained the reasons they lost value according to Jim Cramer. We also discussed these companies’ fundamentals and hedge fund sentiment. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE:LLY)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 109
Cramer tried to find out the reasons behind the latest selloff around Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE:LLY), one of this favorite weight-loss stocks.
Cramer said the bear case for LLY is that Roche is developing its own weight loss drug in a “pill form” and not like an injection like Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE:LLY).
But Cramer said that “we talked about this in January” and the drug from Roche isn’t yet approved.
“I mean, we don’t even know how long it would take for it to be approved by the FDA.”
Cramer said he’s still bullish on Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE:LLY) because “these drugs are hard to mass-produce.”
Cramer thinks Eli Lilly And Co (NYSE:LLY) has a “huge lead” in the competition and the stock is “for sale.”
Goldman Sachs recently said in a report that estimated global sales from next-gen obesity drugs could reach $130 billion in 2030, up from its previous estimate of $100 billion. Goldman Sachs highlighted that Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE:LLY) and Novo Nordisk are expected to retain their “duopoly” in the market with an 80% market share through 2030.
Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE:LLY) shares are trading at a P/E of 123, much higher than its 5-year average of 50 and industry median of 33. However, Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE:LLY) blockbuster weight loss drugs like Mounjaro and Zepbound and their growth potential coupled with raging demand for weight loss drugs back this high valuation, according to several market analysts. Last month, Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE:LLY) shares skyrocketed after its diabetes treatment Mufengda® (Tirzepatide Injection) got approval in China which is amongst the countries with the highest recorded cases of diabetes.
Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE:LLY) is expected to see about 120% earnings growth this year and 40% earnings growth next year. Analysts at BofA see Eli Lilly & Co’s (NYSE:LLY) earnings more than doubling this year. The stock is trading at 43x its 2025 EPS estimate of $19.28 set by Wall Street. Eli Lilly’s revenue growth in 2025 could come in at 23.40%, based on data from Yahoo Finance. This high growth in earnings and revenue is more than enough to justify Eli Lilly & Co’s (NYSE:LLY) current stock price, given the company’s market-leading position in the weight loss market.
Baron Health Care Fund stated the following regarding Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is a global pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells medicines in the categories of diabetes, oncology, neuroscience, and immunology, among other areas. Stock performance was strong due to robust fourth quarter sales of Mounjaro/ Zepbound, better-than-anticipated initial guidance for fiscal year 2024, and ongoing enthusiasm surrounding the company’s obesity and diabetes franchises. We continue to think Lilly is well positioned to grow revenue and earnings at attractive rates through the end of the decade and beyond.”
Overall, Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE:LLY) ranks 8th on Insider Monkey’s list titled 10 Best AI Stocks to Buy Based on New AI ETF. While we acknowledge the potential of Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE:LLY), our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than LLY but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: Analyst Sees a New $25 Billion “Opportunity” for NVIDIA and Jim Cramer is Recommending These Stocks.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
