'Unbelievable demand' for weight-loss drugs sends Eli Lilly stock soaring 14% after earnings

• Eli Lilly stock surged 14% after delivering a strong earnings report driven by its GLP-1 drugs.
• The company saw significant sales growth from Mounjaro and Zepbound, boosting revenue, EPS, and guidance.
• JPMorgan praised Eli Lilly, citing potential growth from more supply of its drug, and an eventual GLP-1 pill.

Eli Lilly stock soared as much as 14% on Thursday after the pharma giant reported a solid second-quarter earnings beat driven by its popular GLP-1 weight loss drugs.

The company has raced to bring on more supply for its tirzepatide-based drugs, Zepbound and Mounjaro, and those efforts are starting to pay off.

Here were the key second-quarter numbers:

• Revenue: $11.30 billion, versus analyst estimates of $9.98 billion
• Adjusted EPS: $3.92, versus analyst estimates of $2.76
• 2024 revenue outlook: $45.4 billion to $46.6 billion, versus previous guidance of $42.4 billion to $43.6 billion
• 2024 adjusted EPS outlook: $16.10 to $16.60, versus analyst estimates of $13.71

"Mounjaro, Zepbound, and Verzenio led our strong financial performance in the second quarter as we advanced our manufacturing expansion agenda," CEO David Ricks said.

Mounjaro, which is indicated for Type II Diabetes, generated sales of $3.1 billion in the quarter, representing year-over-year growth of about 215% and ahead of analyst expectations of $2.4 billion.

Zepbound, which is indicated for weight-loss, generated sales of $1.2 billion in the quarter. The drug was launched in the fourth-quarter of 2023.

In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Ricks said much of the demand for its weight-loss drugs is organic, driven by consumer interest.

"We just see unbelievable demand, and we're not even trying that hard to promote this drug. We're not advertising, we told our sales reps to basically just service customers, don't promote. And what you're seeing is just consumer organic demand here as we've shipped more product, as we bring more supply online in the United States," Ricks said.

JPMorgan, which rates Eli Lilly at "Overweight" with a $1,000 price target, was impressed by the results.

"LLY remains one of our favorite names in the group as we see further upside to Street estimates as injectable capacity ramps, orforglipron comes to market and outcomes data supports broad use of obesity medications," JPMorgan said in a note on Thursday.

Orfoglipron is Eli Lilly's pill-based GLP-1 drug that is still undergoing clinical trials.