Eli Lilly Earnings: Mounjaro and Zepbound Drive 39% Revenue Growth, and Lilly Raises Its 2026 Sales Forecast

By Stock Titan Editorial Team Published October 29, 2026, 06:51 AM EDT · Updated October 29, 2026, 07:37 AM EDT

Eli Lilly earnings report for the third quarter of 2026

Revenue was $24.4 billion in the third quarter of 2026, against $17.6 billion a year earlier, according to Lilly's results release.

Against the $23.0 billion of the second quarter, revenue rose 6%. Analysts had expected about $22.5 billion, the consensus, or average forecast, that Visible Alpha compiled on October 21, so sales came in above that figure.

Lilly said the quarter's revenue included about $900 million of benefits. They came mainly from $410 million of milestone payments tied to sales of Jardiance, a diabetes drug it shares with Boehringer Ingelheim, and from favorable changes to its estimates of rebates and discounts. No further Jardiance milestones remain.

U.S. revenue rose 34% to $15.1 billion, and revenue outside the U.S. rose 47% to $9.3 billion.

Earnings per share were $7.22 under standard accounting rules (GAAP) and $7.48 on Lilly's adjusted, non-GAAP measure, against $6.21 and $7.02 a year earlier. Both include the research charge that the section on earnings per share explains.

How much of Eli Lilly's sales growth came from Zepbound and Mounjaro

Mounjaro and Zepbound are one medicine, tirzepatide, sold under two names. Zepbound is its name for weight loss in the U.S., Canada and Japan. For type 2 diabetes, and for weight loss in other countries where it is approved, it is sold as Mounjaro.

Mounjaro brought in $10.7 billion worldwide, up 65% from a year earlier, and Zepbound brought in $5.4 billion, up 49%.

Together they added $6.0 billion of the $6.8 billion by which Lilly's revenue grew over the year. Their share has been at least 84% in each of the last five quarters, and in the fourth quarter of 2025 it went past 100% because Lilly's other sales fell.

Show the data

Category	Value
Q3 2025	93%
Q4 2025	108%
Q1 2026	94%
Q2 2026	85%
Q3 2026	88%

More of Mounjaro now sells outside the U.S. than inside it, $5.7 billion abroad against $5.0 billion at home. China added it to its national list of reimbursed drugs early in 2026. Revenue from everything else Lilly sells, from cancer medicines to its Alzheimer's treatment Kisunla, grew 11.0% over the same year by our calculation, a figure that includes the $410 million of Jardiance milestones.

Show the data

Category	Mounjaro	Zepbound	Rest of Lilly
Q3 2025	$6.5B	$3.6B	$7.5B
Q4 2025	$7.4B	$4.3B	$7.6B
Q1 2026	$8.7B	$4.2B	$7.0B
Q2 2026	$9.9B	$4.9B	$8.1B
Q3 2026	$10.7B	$5.4B	$8.3B

Foundayo, Lilly's weight loss pill approved on April 1, brought in $184 million in the third quarter, its second quarter on sale, after $98 million in the second. That is below the $234 million Visible Alpha's consensus had expected.

The next medicine in line, retatrutide, is not on sale yet. Lilly plans to ask the FDA to approve it in the first quarter of 2027. On October 28 it said that in a head-to-head trial in type 2 diabetes, retatrutide produced more than double the weight loss of Ozempic's highest approved dose (Lilly's trial results).

Did Eli Lilly raise its 2026 guidance?

Lilly raised its 2026 revenue range to $91 billion to $92 billion, from $85 billion to $87 billion set on August 5, the third increase this year.

The August range implied a sharp slowdown. By our calculation it left room for revenue growth of 14.5% to 19.9% from July to December, against the same months of 2025, after 51% growth from January to June. The July to September quarter alone grew 39%, well above that pace, although its revenue included the $900 million of benefits Lilly described.

In August Lilly noted that "The first half of 2026 also benefited from sales based milestones and adjustments for rebates and discounts" (second-quarter release), which in our reading is one reason the range assumed slower growth. The milestone it booked in the second quarter was a $250 million payment tied to sales of Jardiance, a diabetes drug it shares with Boehringer Ingelheim.

The new range leaves $23.8 billion to $24.8 billion for the fourth quarter, by our calculation, 24% to 29% more than the $19.3 billion of a year earlier.

Show the data

Item	Low	High	Value
February 4	$80B	$83B
April 30	$82B	$85B
August 5	$85B	$87B
October 29	$91B	$92B

What the research charges did to Eli Lilly's earnings per share

Lilly calls the charge acquired in-process research and development, or IPR&D. It comes from buying drugs still in testing from other companies, and Lilly keeps it inside its adjusted earnings too. It booked such charges in each of the four quarters before this one, so buying research is a regular cost for Lilly even when one quarter's bill is unusually large.

Lilly warned on October 7 that the quarter would carry about $4.2 billion of these charges before tax, about $4.57 a share (Lilly's estimate). The release puts the charge at $4.57 a share, against $0.71 a year earlier. Lilly said: "The Q3 2026 charges primarily related to the acquisitions of AtaiBeckley Inc. and Curevo Inc."

Adding the charge back, a comparison of our own, adjusted earnings per share would have been $12.05, against $7.73 a year earlier, 56% higher.

Its range for adjusted (non-GAAP) earnings per share is now $35.00 to $36.00, against $35.50 to $36.50 in August, $0.50 lower at the midpoint.

The research charge for July to September alone was $4.57 a share, and the August range left out any such charge after June 30.

Lilly said its earnings forecast "has been adjusted to reflect an increase of $4.07 (at the midpoint of the range), offset by $4.57 associated with the Q3 acquired IPR&D charges from recent business development activity."

Does Eli Lilly pay a dividend?

The diluted share count, the average number of shares counting those that stock awards could add, was 893 million, against 899 million a year earlier. The results release gives no figures for share buybacks or debt; those come in Lilly's quarterly 10-Q filing.

Lilly prices, volume and Medicare coverage

Lilly says worldwide revenue grew because volume rose 53%, partly offset by a 15% drop in realized prices. Realized prices are the prices Lilly collects after rebates and discounts.

In the U.S., Lilly said, revenue rose 34%, "driven by a 41% increase in volume, partially offset by a 7% decrease in realized prices."

Since July 1, 2026, a temporary Medicare program called the GLP-1 Bridge has offered Zepbound KwikPen or Foundayo for $50 a month. It is open to eligible patients in Part D, Medicare's drug coverage (Lilly's notice). The program runs through December 31, 2027.

Lilly estimated that about 20 million Medicare patients may meet the program's criteria. Lilly's chief executive, David A. Ricks, named "expanded U.S. coverage for obesity care" among the drivers of revenue growth; the results release gives no separate revenue figure for the program.

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