Editor’s note: A prior version of this article stated Eli Lilly and Nvidia had funded a supercomputer, when the commitment was for the co-innovation lab. This article has been updated to reflect the change. If there are further requests please send to [email protected]
As of February 13, 2026, shares of Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) were trading at $1,040, just 5.8% below the stock’s all-time high. Retail sentiment has turned decisively bullish following the company’s Q4 2025 earnings beat, with Reddit’s sentiment score climbing from neutral (57.3) to bullish (65.7) over the past week. The catalyst? Eli Lilly overdelivered on Earnings Per Share relative to estimates and projected 2026 revenue of $80-83 billion.
Eli Lilly +7% premarket after $7.54 EPS vs $6.67 and forecasting 2026 profit $33.50‑$35 on strong weight‑loss drug demand
by Reddit user in wallstreetbets
Why Investors Are Turning Bullish on Eli Lilly
The company’s GLP-1 franchise is delivering staggering results. Mounjaro revenue surged 110% to $7.4 billion, while Zepbound jumped 123% to $4.2 billion in Q4 alone. As one r/wallstreetbets user noted: “Eli Lilly +7% premarket after announcing earnings per share and forecasting 2026 profit on strong weight-loss drug demand.” This isn’t just about current sales. Eli Lilly built a $1.5 billion stockpile of orforglipron, its oral GLP-1 candidate, ahead of an anticipated April 2026 FDA decision. That’s aggressive positioning for rapid market capture.
But the real differentiator is AI. In October 2025, Lilly committed $1 billion to build a co-innovation lab with Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) designed to interrogate biology at scale. By January 2026, the companies had established a co-innovation lab that links clinical data with Nvidia’s computational capabilities in real time. Chief Scientific Officer Daniel Skovronsky noted the company “achieved positive outcomes for nearly all R&D key events in 2025, a rare set of results in this industry.”
Three factors support continued momentum:
- Eli Lilly became the first healthcare company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization
- Operating margins hit 45.6% with net margins of 31.7%, exceptional for pharma
- The company’s AI platform gives it a competitive edge in drug discovery speed and cost efficiency
The Path to $1,350
Analysts maintain a consensus target of $1,201, with 18 analysts rating it Strong Buy and zero Sell ratings. But some see higher potential with a $1,350 price target, which reflects confidence that Eli Lilly’s combination of GLP-1 dominance, AI-accelerated pipeline, and manufacturing scale will drive sustained outperformance. With quarterly revenue growth of 42.6% and a pipeline delivering results at rates that exceed industry norms, the company has momentum to break through resistance. Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) faces its own challenges, projecting -5% to -13% sales growth in 2026 amid pricing pressures, creating an opportunity for Lilly to capture additional market share.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks