Eli Lilly Pistol Whips Novo After Earnings Mic Drop (Guidance Goes Brrrr)

“Who do you think you are? I AM!” - Eli Lilly to Novo, probably… 

We all remember how Novo-Nordisk face-planted so hard the stock needed ice and a ride home right? Well, fast-forward one trading day and Eli Lilly completely emptied the clip on Novo and its poor soul investors. 

(Source: Giphy) 

In short, Lilly dropped earnings, smashed estimates, and then slid 2026 guidance across the table that made analysts blink twice. For instance, Wall Street came in expecting guidance to sit around $77B. Eli Lilly though, said “nah, round up” and hit everyone and their mom with an $80-$83 billion dollar target. Naturally, the stock did what stocks do when numbers actually hit: up double digits and immediately restored dopamine. 

(Source: CNBC) 

Now of course, this is the same GLP-1 street fight we’ve been watching all year… except now the contrast couldn’t be louder. Novo is talking about pressure, pricing headwinds, and declining growth. Lilly is talking about volume, dominance, and shipping units like Costco rotisserie chickens. Case in point: Mounjaro and Zepbound are the main characters here. Mounjaro pulled $7.4B in quarterly revenue, up 110% YoY. Zepbound clocked $4.2B in U.S. sales, up 122%. Bigly.

But the real mic drop here is that Lilly did all of this while prices are coming down. And now, Lilly controls 60.5% of the U.S. obesity and diabetes drug market. In comparison, Novo is sitting around 39%, staring at an “explosive” Wegovy pill launch and hoping the crowd still shows up. Meanwhile, Lilly is already lining up the next move with things like: Medicare coverage expanding, a GLP-1 obesity pill coming in Q2 (pending FDA approval), DTC channels ramping, and volumes expected to accelerate into the back half of the year.

Live look at Novo right now… 

(Source: Giphy) 

And yes, pricing will step down. Everyone knows it. Lilly knows it. The Street knows it. That’s already baked. What matters is who fills the script pads faster, and right now Lilly’s pen is smoking. And that’s all Wall Street cares about. Sure, Novo may still have a pill coming… but Lilly already has momentum, muscle, and receipts. Place your bets accordingly, friends. Until next time… 

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News does not hold positions in companies mentioned in the article.