What Sent Eli Lilly Stock Higher?

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Eli Lilly (LLY) stock rose 6.6% on Thursday, October 29, 2026, while the S&P 500 fell 0.3%. The gain came the same day the company reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share and revenue above estimates, and drug stocks rose with it. How big was the beat, and how much of it will last?

How Far Did Eli Lilly Beat Estimates?

Adjusted earnings per share came in at $7.48, against an estimate of $5.68, and revenue reached $24.4 billion, against an estimate of $22.6 billion. Management said revenue grew 39% from the third quarter of 2025. News reports linked the stock’s jump to earnings powered by Mounjaro, its diabetes drug, and Zepbound, its obesity drug.

When two products power a company’s earnings, its growth rests on those two. Tesla shows the risk: it drew 98% of last quarter’s deliveries from the Model 3 and Model Y, and its deliveries fell two years in a row. Read Trefis Big Story: How Tesla Blundered.

Together Mounjaro and Zepbound brought in more than $16 billion of revenue in the quarter, management said on the October 29 call. Management also raised its full-year revenue forecast and now expects 2026 revenue of $91 billion to $92 billion.

Part of the quarter’s revenue was one-time: management said about $900 million of third-quarter revenue came from one-time items, including milestone payments and changes to estimates for rebates and discounts. Without those items, revenue would have been about $23.5 billion, still above the estimate. News reports also said the company trimmed its profit forecast because of deal charges.

Did Eli Lilly Rise With Other Drug Stocks?

Yes, though Eli Lilly rose much further. The health care sector fund XLV gained 2.4% the same session, so Eli Lilly’s gain was more than twice the sector’s. Among the companies on its peer list, Merck also beat its own third-quarter estimates that day and rose 3.8%.

The rest of that list moved up as well, if by smaller margins, with Johnson & Johnson gaining 1.5%. Drug stocks rose as a group on a day the broader market fell, and Eli Lilly’s gain was the largest on its peer list.

Eli Lilly Stock Closed At A One-Year High

The $1,373.70 close on October 29 was the stock’s highest close of the past 365 days. A rise like this is rare for Eli Lilly: the stock had three sessions in the prior 365 days with a rise at least this large, the latest occurring on June 26, 2026, when it gained 7.1%.

Over the past twelve months, the stock returned 68.6%, against 13.3% for the S&P 500. Its lowest close in that time was $813.53 on October 29, 2025. A good part of the gain came in October: from September 30 to October 29, the stock returned 18.7%, against about 1% for the S&P 500.

Eli Lilly is expected to report its fourth-quarter results in February 2027. In that report, full-year revenue, measured against the forecast management raised on the October 29 call, is the figure to watch.

How Much Eli Lilly Do You Already Own?

If you own an S&P 500 or Nasdaq fund, you already own Eli Lilly, alongside the same few giants that lead those funds. The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio takes a different route: 30 quality companies in equal weight, so no single stock dominates. Since its inception in September 2020 it has returned 105%, ahead of a benchmark that combines the S&P 500, S&P Mid-cap and Russell 2000.

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