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Skip NavigationMarketsBusinessInvestingTechPolitics & PolicyVideoWatchlistInvesting ClubPROLivestreamMenuEli Lilly shares are rallying to a new record high on Thursday after the drugmaker delivered another beat-and-raise quarter, driven by resilient momentum in its obesity drug business. The numbers continue to impress and solidify the stock’s place in our portfolio. Revenue in the third quarter rose 39% year over year to $24.4 billion, surpassing the LSEG consensus of $22.6 billion. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) increased 6.6% from a year ago to $7.48, exceeding analyst expectations of $6.26, according to LSEG data. The modest annual growth in adjusted profit was due to a sizable, acquisition-related accounting charge booked in the September quarter. That’s an easy thing to accept because Lilly is wise to spend its GLP-1 windfall on potential growth drivers in the coming years. Adjusted gross margin in the September quarter came in at 84.4%, beating the 82.7% consensus, according to FactSet. It also expanded from 83.6% in the year-ago period, an encouraging sign of profitability. Shares rose over 6% on Thursday to roughly $1,370 apiece. The advance has Lilly on track for one of its best sessions of the year and a fresh record close, taking out its prior high of $1,306.69 on Oct. 22. The stock — a major outperformer in recent years thanks to its booming GLP-1 business — entered Thursday up about 20% in 2026, ahead of the S & P 500’s 13% gain. Lilly shares had a rough few months to start the year, due in large part to concerns about its obesity pill Foundayo, which suffered a delay in regulatory approval as rival Novo had a successful launch of its Wegovy pill. But then came Lilly’s blowout first-quarter earnings report on April 30, which sent shares up almost 10% and, it turned out, marked a bottom for the stock. Shares are up more than 50% since the April 29 close, and Thursday’s results suggest there’s still plenty of upside. As a result, we’re raising our price target to $1,500 from $1,300. We’re reiterating our 2 rating, at least for now, meaning we’d wait for a pullback before adding to our position. LLY 1Y mountain Lilly’s stock performance over the past 12 months. Bottom line The Lilly train keeps rolling, and more than five years into our investment, we’re in no hurry to get off. Of course, we’ve booked profits on numerous occasions along the way, as our investing discipline calls for. But our main reason for getting into the name in the first place — the enormous potential of GLP-1 drugs to treat obesity and diabetes — remains remarkably intact and shows no signs of cracking. As a healthcare stock, Lilly also helps our portfolio stay diversified, which is even more important in a market where investors are looking for winners outside of the artificial intelligence buildout. Yes, Lilly has already achieved incredible growth, and meeting investor expectations will only get tougher as a result. That’s been the case for a while now, though, and Lilly keeps delivering, Thursday included. The biggest driver remains tirzepatide, the active ingredient behind Mounjaro and Zepbound. In the U.S., Mounjaro is marketed for type 2 diabetes and Zepbound for obesity. But in most countries, Mounjaro is the brand name for both diabetes and obesity. This distinction has become increasingly relevant in recent quarters because Mounjaro has been a major driver of upside to the Wall Street consensus, thanks to impressive international growth. In both the U.S. and international markets, Lilly’s share of the GLP-1 market grew in the third quarter compared with the three months ended in June. Mounjaro revenue rose 65% year over year to $10.7 billion in the quarter, beating the FactSet consensus by $700 million. Sales outside the U.S. increased 93% to $5.7 billion, with volume growth more than offsetting declines in realized prices. Mounjaro’s inclusion on the Chinese government list of reimbursed prescription medicines, which took effect earlier this year, has driven the overseas price pressures. Zepbound revenue also topped estimates, with sales of $5.35 billion representing 49% year-over-year growth. Consensus was for $5.05 billion in revenue. Similar to Mounjaro, an increase in the number of people taking the obesity drug more than compensated for lower realized prices. This is encouraging in the wake of Lilly’s agreement with the Trump administration last year to cut out-of-pocket GLP-1 prices , in exchange for tariff relief and the introduction of Medicare reimbursement for obesity drugs. A temporary, 18-month pilot program began on July 1, allowing eligible Medicare recipients to access the drugs for $50 a month. Lilly had argued that volume would offset the price reductions, and that has proven to be correct. On Thursday’s earnings call, executives offered an early look at 2027 expectations, saying they expect the GLP-1 market to see “sustained volume growth” that offsets price headwinds. Full guidance for next year will come on Lilly’s fourth-quarter earnings call in three months. CEO David Ricks told CNBC on Thursday that the growth runway for obesity drugs remains enormous, reinforcing our decision to stay invested. “It could be a lot more is the bottom line,” Ricks said on “Squawk on the Street.” “Today, globally, we’d estimate maybe 3% of eligible patients access obesity care. In the U.S., maybe 10%. So the room for expansion here, of this market, is dramatic. Of course, Lilly is at the front of that. That’s going to be driven by both our access efforts [such as the Medicare program] and new innovation.” The Medicare Bridge program expands access to 20 million seniors, and Ricks said on Thursday’s earnings call that more than half a million people thus far have filled a prescription for a Lilly medicine through the program. Among new Bridge patients, Rick reiterated that seven out of 10 are starting on a Lilly drug — either the injectable Zepbound or the oral Foundayo. Roughly three-quarters of Bridge patients are on an injectable. The main blemish in the third-quarter results was Foundayo revenue, which at $184 million fell short of the $229 million consensus, according to FactSet. The drug hit the U.S. market in April, four months after Novo’s Wegovy pill. It has since expanded into four international markets: the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and the U.K. Executives said the Foundayo launch is generally going to plan, while noting that launching in more countries and expanding its label to include type 2 diabetes treatment, especially in the U.S., in 2027 will help drive more growth. For now, Lilly said its share of new obesity pill prescriptions is approaching four out of 10 in the U.S. For comparison, at an investor conference on Sept. 14, a Lilly executive said Foundayo had “more than 30% share in new starts within oral GLP-1.” While we want to see Lilly continue to close the gap on the Wegovy pill, we’re satisfied with the Foundayo progress thus far. Bigger picture, we remain optimistic on Lilly’s next-generation obesity and diabetes treatments — namely, the triple-acting retatrutide and eloralintide, which is essentially a cousin to GLP-1 therapies. These are some of the “new innovations” that Ricks highlighted on CNBC as important growth drivers down the road. Also, on Dec. 7, Lilly is hosting an investor day focused on its research and development efforts and pipeline, which could be a potential catalyst. Guidance Here is Lilly’s revised full-year guidance for 2026: Revenue in the range of $91 billion to $92 billion (up from $85 billion to $87 billion). Performance margin, a Lilly-defined measure of operating profitability, in the range of 52% to 52.5% (up from 49% to 50.5%). Earnings per share in the range of $35 to $36 (down from $35.50 to $36.50) (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long LLY. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.Read More