Eli Lilly LLY shares ended the last trading session 7.1% higher at $1. The jump came on an impressive volume with a higher-than-average number of shares changing hands in the session. This compares to the stock's 0.1% gain over the past four weeks.
Shares of the company reached an all-time high after the company announced several positive developments related to its marketed products. An EMA advisory committee recommended approving the company’s filing seeking label expansion for Jaypirca to treat adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) across all lines of therapy. Lilly also announced that its popular obesity drugs, Zepbound and Foundayo, will be available via Medicare for $50 per month, starting from July 1, 2026.
While neither development materially changes the company's near-term outlook, both strengthen its long-term growth prospects.
This drugmaker is expected to post quarterly earnings of $9.01 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +42.8%. Revenues are expected to be $20.44 billion, up 31.4% from the year-ago quarter.
Earnings and revenue growth expectations certainly give a good sense of the potential strength in a stock, but empirical research shows that trends in earnings estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements.
For Lilly, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. And a stock's price usually doesn't keep moving higher in the absence of any trend in earnings estimate revisions. So, make sure to keep an eye on LLY going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.
The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>
Lilly is part of the Zacks Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry. Merck MRK, another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 2.6% higher at $128.66. MRK has returned 4.6% in the past month.
For Merck, the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $2.1. This represents a change of -1.4% from what the company reported a year ago. Merck currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
