Key Highlights

● Eli Lilly reports third quarter results on October 29, with a 10 a.m. Eastern call.

● Second quarter revenue rose 48% to about $23 billion on 60% volume growth.

● Mounjaro sales were about $9.9 billion and Zepbound about $4.9 billion in the second quarter.

● Full-year revenue guidance was raised to between $85 billion and $87 billion.

Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), the Indianapolis-based drugmaker and an S&P 500 constituent, is scheduled to release third quarter results on Thursday, October 29. In a notice posted on its corporate events page, the company said it will host a conference call that day at 10 a.m. Eastern time and will post a live webcast and a replay.

No third quarter figures have been published yet. What the company has already reported and guided includes a second quarter in which revenue climbed 48% to about $23 billion, a raised full-year range, a pipeline of obesity and diabetes medicines, and a pricing and coverage landscape that is changing quickly.

When Will Eli Lilly Announce Third Quarter Results, and How Can the Call Be Followed?

According to the company's announcement, Eli Lilly will release its third quarter financial results on October 29, and the conference call to discuss them begins at 10 a.m. Eastern time. A live webcast will be posted on the company's corporate events page, and a replay will be available there afterward.

The timing places the report in the heart of the third quarter earnings season for large drugmakers. Several of its peers have already reported, and market participants have been comparing commentary on pricing, volume and pipeline progress across the sector.

Eli Lilly's results matter beyond one company because the obesity and diabetes medicines it markets, Mounjaro and Zepbound, have become some of the top-grossing drugs in the world and a major influence on how the pharmaceutical sector is perceived. The company's own commentary on prescriptions, supply and pricing is therefore read closely by the rest of the industry, by pharmacy benefit managers and by employers who pay for coverage.

Earnings announcements often include updates to full-year guidance, changes in reported product categories, and news about regulatory submissions. Those items can matter as much as the quarterly totals.

What Did Eli Lilly Report for the Second Quarter, and Why Does It Set the Bar for the Third?

On August 5, Eli Lilly reported second quarter revenue of about $23 billion, compared with about $15.6 billion a year earlier, an increase of 48%. The company said volume rose 60% while realized prices fell 13%, a combination that shows demand growth outpacing a decline in net price per unit.

Reported earnings per share were $7.94, up 26%, and non-GAAP earnings per share were $8.38, up 33%. Both measures include acquired in-process research and development charges of $3.03 per share, a reminder that deal-related expenses can move earnings noticeably from one quarter to the next.

Chief executive David Ricks said in the release that momentum continued, as the company delivered 48% revenue growth and raised full-year guidance.

Because the second quarter growth rate was so high, the third quarter comparison is demanding in both absolute and percentage terms. Any slowdown in sequential growth, even from a very high base, tends to draw attention, and so do changes in the balance between volume and price.

How Large Are Mounjaro and Zepbound Within Eli Lilly's Sales Mix?

Mounjaro, approved for type two diabetes, produced about $9.9 billion of second quarter sales, up 91% from the year before. Zepbound, the same active ingredient, tirzepatide, approved for chronic weight management and for obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity, generated about $4.9 billion, up 46%.

Together, the two products represent roughly two-thirds of total second quarter revenue, which illustrates how concentrated the company's growth has become. Concentration brings strong momentum when demand is high, but it also means that changes in coverage, competition or safety information about a single molecule can move overall results.

The company has said in the past that it has spent heavily in manufacturing capacity to meet demand for these injectable products, and supply constraints that limited availability earlier in the cycle have largely eased. That change helps explain the sharp volume growth reported in the second quarter.

At the same time, rival drugmakers, including Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO), are pursuing the same market with their own injectable and oral medicines, and competition is partly responsible for the decline in realized prices. How fast the volume gains continue to offset lower prices is one of the central questions for the third quarter.

What Role Does the New Oral Medicine Foundayo Play in the Eli Lilly Story?

Foundayo, the brand name for orforglipron, is Eli Lilly's once-daily pill for weight management. It was added to the company's key products table in the second quarter and contributed about $98 million in sales in that period, according to the release.

An oral option matters because many patients prefer a pill to an injection, and because pills can be manufactured and distributed with different logistics than injectable pens. Reporting in April described a national launch through the company's direct-to-patient channel and through telehealth providers.

The company also said in the second quarter report that it submitted orforglipron to the Food and Drug Administration for type two diabetes in the United States. Regulatory review of that application will take months, and approval is not assured.

Third quarter results will give a second data point on how quickly Foundayo prescriptions are growing from a low starting base. Early launch figures can be volatile because of stocking patterns, free-trial offers, and the effect of insurer coverage decisions, so one quarter of data is only a partial picture.

Why Did Pharmacy Benefit Manager Coverage Matter for Eli Lilly's Obesity Medicines?

On May 28, Eli Lilly announced that all three of the largest pharmacy benefit managers in the country would cover its full obesity portfolio. The release named CVS Caremark specifically, saying Foundayo coverage would begin on June 1 under its commercial template and that Zepbound access would broaden across template plans by October 1.

The company said eligible patients with commercial coverage may pay as little as $25 a month for either medicine, subject to terms and conditions, and that eligible Medicare Part D beneficiaries may pay $50 a month beginning July 1 through a federal bridge program for obesity drugs. The release did not give a specific number of covered lives.

Coverage is a double-edged factor for a drugmaker. It can increase volume substantially, which is consistent with the 60% volume growth reported in the second quarter, but it often comes with negotiated discounts and rebates that reduce net prices. The 13% decline in realized prices reported for the second quarter is consistent with that dynamic.

Because the broadened CVS Caremark access for Zepbound was scheduled to take effect on October 1, the third quarter would not yet show its full effect. Commentary on the call about early fourth quarter prescription trends may therefore be as informative as the quarterly figures.

What Full-Year Guidance Has Eli Lilly Set Heading Into the Report?

In the second quarter release, Eli Lilly raised its full-year revenue guidance to between $85 billion and $87 billion, up from a previous range of $82 billion to $85 billion. Full-year earnings per share guidance was set at $35.50 to $36.50, compared with a prior range of $35.50 to $37.

The company explained that underlying growth added about $2.78 to the midpoint of the earnings range, offset by the $3.03 of acquired research charges in the second quarter. The result is a narrower earnings range with a lower top end even as revenue expectations rose.

Guidance of this kind is a management expectation. It can be updated each quarter, and the third quarter release will show whether the company again adjusts revenue, earnings or both. Market participants often watch the direction of those changes more closely than the quarterly totals themselves.

Companies also tend to update guidance for new business development transactions, which can add in-process research charges that are hard to anticipate. For a company that has been active in acquisitions and licensing, that is a practical reason for earnings guidance to move independent of operating trends.

How Is Eli Lilly's Late-Stage Pipeline Shaping Expectations Around Retatrutide?

The company said in August that the clinical data package for retatrutide is complete for obesity, obstructive sleep apnea and knee osteoarthritis pain, and that it plans to submit a Biologics License Application to the Food and Drug Administration in the first quarter of 2027. Retatrutide acts on several hormone pathways at once, and results from earlier studies attracted wide attention for the degree of weight loss observed.

A filing timetable does not guarantee approval. Regulators will review safety data, including tolerability and cardiovascular findings, and any questions raised during review could extend the timeline.

Beyond obesity, the second quarter release noted that the Food and Drug Administration approved an every-eight-week maintenance dose of Ebglyss for moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis, and that the European Commission approved Jaypirca as a single agent for adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia across all lines of therapy. These examples show that growth is not solely dependent on the obesity franchise.

The third quarter call may include updates on timing for these programs, on trials expected to read out before year-end, and on the scale of research spending. Research and development expense is a large line item for the company and is closely tied to how many late-stage programs it runs at once.

What Challenges and Uncertainties Surround Eli Lilly Heading Into the Report?

The first uncertainty is price. Realized prices fell 13% in the second quarter, and further declines are possible as coverage expands, as direct-to-patient channels grow and as government programs set reimbursement levels. If volume growth slows while price erosion continues, revenue growth could decelerate sharply.

The second is competition. Novo Nordisk and other drugmakers have their own late-stage obesity programs, and compounded versions of similar drugs have been a source of controversy. Each new entrant can affect prescription share and pricing.

The third is concentration. Mounjaro and Zepbound together account for the majority of the company's sales, so any regulatory, supply or safety development involving tirzepatide has outsized significance. The fourth is regulation, since federal negotiation, trade measures on pharmaceuticals and state-level coverage decisions can all change the economics.

Finally, the company is spending heavily on manufacturing and research. Large capital commitments are intended to support coming demand, but they require continued growth to be justified, and they can pressure margins in periods when sales growth slows.

How Does Eli Lilly Compare With Other Large Drugmakers Reporting This Season?

Across large pharmaceutical companies, the third quarter season has featured a mix of strong demand for new-generation products and pressure on older franchises facing generic or biosimilar competition. Eli Lilly stands out for the scale of its growth, since 48% revenue growth is unusual for a company with revenue of this size.

Peers with large patent expirations on the horizon are trying to rebuild pipelines through acquisitions and licensing, while Eli Lilly has been spending from a position of strength. The difference is visible in the company's guidance, which assumes continued double-digit growth, whereas several competitors have guided to flat or low growth.

That comparison does not mean smooth sailing. Companies growing this quickly face higher expectations, and small variations from what Wall Street research desks had assumed can draw close attention.

The sector context also includes ongoing debate in Washington over drug pricing and over coverage of obesity treatments in government programs. Announcements on those matters can arrive at any time and can affect the entire group.

What Should Readers Watch on October 29 When Eli Lilly Reports?

Several items will be visible in the release: total revenue and its split between volume and price, the sales of Mounjaro, Zepbound and Foundayo, non-GAAP and reported earnings per share, and any change in full-year guidance. The acquired research charge line will also be worth reading, because it can explain large differences between the two earnings measures.

On the call, management commentary on prescription trends after the October coverage changes, on manufacturing capacity, on international launches and on the retatrutide filing plan will provide context that the tables cannot.