① As the “magic medicine for weight loss” explodes around the world, the stock price of US pharmaceutical giant Lilly recently reached a record high. ② According to billionaire investor Ken Langoni, Lilly's stock price prospects are bright, and it is expected to become the first pharmaceutical company in history to exceed trillion US dollars; ③ Since this year, Lilly's stock price has soared by nearly 64%.
Financial News Agency, December 14 (Editor Bian Chun) As the “magic medicine for weight loss” explodes around the world, the stock price of US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (Eli Lilly) recently reached a record high. According to billionaire investor Ken Langone (Ken Langone), co-founder of Home Depot, Eli Lilly's stock price prospects are bright, and it is expected to become the first pharmaceutical company in history to exceed a trillion dollars in value.
“I think Lilly will become the first trillion-dollar pharmaceutical company in history,” Langoni said in an interview with the media on Wednesday. “Why? Because of their R&D pipeline. God bless (former CEO) John Lechlett. In the dark years when everything fell to a cliff, he was firmly committed to spending money on R&D and maintaining dividends.”
Langoni said that Lilly's bright future has a lot to do with Lechlet's previous leadership. “We will not cut R&D funding; we will focus our efforts to ensure that our investment is more rewarded,” he said. They did it.”
Langone has always been a long-term shareholder of Lilly. On Wednesday, he said that as early as 2015, Lilly had always been his preferred stock. “In the 46 years I've held it, counting dividends, [the stock] has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 14.8%.” He said.
Stock prices soared more than 60% during the year
Since this year, GLP-1 diet pills have been popular all over the world. With the diabetes drug Mounjaro and the diet drug Zepbound, Lilly's stock price has soared by nearly 64%, becoming one of the biggest winners in the global diet pill boom.
Earlier this month, Eli Lilly announced that its diet drug Zepbound is available in US pharmacies for adults who are too obese. The main component of Zepbound is tilpotide, which works by mimicking hormones, stimulates the release of insulin, increases satiety, and reduces appetite. Since 2022, Lilly's tilpotide has been marketed as Mounjaro, a treatment for type 2 diabetes.
In May of this year, Eli Lilly surpassed Johnson & Johnson to become the pharmaceutical company with the highest market capitalization in the world. Eli Lilly's current market capitalization is about US$567.2 billion, and there is still room for an increase of more than 76% compared to Langoni's estimated market value of trillion US dollars.
Meanwhile, the stock price of Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk has also soared due to GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic. The stock has risen close to 45% since this year.
In stark contrast to the endless fortunes of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, some other pharmaceutical stocks are struggling.
Take Pfizer, whose stock price has fallen by nearly 50% so far this year. Shares of Pfizer fell on Wednesday after the company predicted that as revenue from COVID-19 vaccines and treatments continues to slow, its 2024 sales may be $5 billion lower than Wall Street expectations.