Eli Lilly Q2 2026 earnings: profit and sales beat big as weight-loss drugs keep booming
Eli Lilly's Q2 2026 profit and sales crushed estimates as Mounjaro and Zepbound demand kept surging, prompting a raised full-year outlook.
| Q2 2026 | Reported | Expected | Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | $8.38 | $6.07 | +38.1% |
| Revenue | $22.97B | $20.93B | +9.8% |
Key takeaways
- Lilly’s earnings and revenue both came in well above what Wall Street was expecting, driven almost entirely by continued surging demand for its diabetes and weight-loss drugs.
- Total revenue jumped 48% from a year earlier to about $23.0 billion. The diabetes drug Mounjaro roughly doubled to $9.9 billion in sales, and the weight-loss drug Zepbound’s U.S. sales grew 44% to about $4.9 billion — together the two drugs added $6.3 billion of new revenue versus last year.
- Lilly’s newly launched obesity pill, sold under the brand Foundayo (orforglipron), began contributing to sales this quarter after winning FDA approval earlier in the year. It’s the first approved GLP-1 pill that doesn’t require food or water restrictions, which the company says should make the drug class accessible to more patients.
- Because revenue is growing much faster than costs, the company is converting an unusually large share of each sales dollar into profit — trailing-twelve-month operating margin is above 43% and net profit margin is nearly 35%, both signs the weight-loss drug boom is highly profitable rather than just high-volume.
- Lilly raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to a range of $85 billion to $87 billion, up from its prior forecast of $82 billion to $85 billion, and lifted its full-year adjusted profit outlook as well.
- CEO David Ricks said ‘Lilly’s momentum continues,’ pointing to the 48% revenue growth and the raised guidance as evidence the company’s growth trajectory is accelerating rather than leveling off.
- The company kept spending on future growth, closing several biotech acquisitions during and just after the quarter (including Centessa Pharmaceuticals and Orna Therapeutics) and committing an additional $4.5 billion to expand manufacturing capacity in Indiana — investments aimed at sustaining supply and pipeline growth as demand for its drugs keeps climbing.
- Shares rose on the results, reflecting that both the earnings beat and the raised guidance exceeded what investors had been anticipating.
Q2 2026 in context
| Metric | Jun 2026 | Jun 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $23.0B | $15.6B | +47.7% |
| Net income | $7.1B | $5.7B | +25.3% |
| Diluted EPS | $7.94 | $6.29 | +26.2% |
| Gross margin | 85.8% | 84.3% | +1.5 pts |
| Net margin | 30.9% | 36.4% | -5.5 pts |
Figures for the quarter ended Jun 2026 and the quarter ended Jun 2025, as reported to the SEC.
How the stock took it
Eli Lilly and Co closed at $1115.68 on Aug 4, 2026, the last session before the report, and at $1191.94 on Aug 6, 2026, the first session after it — +6.8% across the report.
| Earlier report | Close before | Close after | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 30, 2026 | $851.21 | $963.33 | +13.2% |
| Oct 30, 2025 | $813.53 | $862.86 | +6.1% |
Closes from the market's daily record. Each figure spans the report date — from the last session that closed before it to the first that closed after — because a company may report before the open or after the close.
Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 82.8% | Trailing 12 months |
| Operating margin | 43.6% | Trailing 12 months |
| Net profit margin | 35.0% | Trailing 12 months |
| Pretax margin | 43.1% | Trailing 12 months |
| EPS | $28.15 | Trailing 12 months |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 47.4% | Trailing 12 months |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 128.8% | Trailing 12 months |
| Return on equity | 101.3% | Trailing 12 months |
Sources: company report · company press release · verified fundamentals · financial news coverage