Lilly Raises Sales Outlook a Third Time as Zepbound Demand Lifts Shares

Eli Lilly has raised its full-year sales forecast for the third time this year, and investors are rewarding the drugmaker. Its shares rallied after the company pointed to continued strong sales of Zepbound, its weight-loss medicine.

The repeated upgrades show how firmly Lilly holds the U.S. market for prescription weight-loss drugs. Demand has grown fast enough that the company has kept revising its outlook upward instead of settling on a single number for the year. Each revision has followed a stretch of accelerating sales for the drug.

The rally also reflects how much investor confidence now rests on one fast-growing category. Lilly's growth is concentrated in obesity treatments, so the performance of Zepbound carries more weight for the company's overall results than any other product. Rivals are competing for a share of the same patients, which makes the pace of Zepbound's gains a question investors will track closely in the quarters ahead.

For now, the latest guidance is the clearest sign yet that Lilly expects that momentum to hold through the end of the year.