The market has spent the past two years treating pharmaceutical stocks like a referendum on GLP-1 drugs. That has been justified. Weight-loss and diabetes therapies have reshaped the industry’s growth outlook and created a handful of blockbuster winners.
Yet markets have a habit of looking backward. The companies that generate today’s profits are not always the ones creating tomorrow’s competitive advantage. Eli Lilly‘s (NYSE:LLY | LLY Price Prediction) latest earnings report shows why investors should celebrate its GLP-1 dominance today while paying even closer attention to the artificial intelligence investments that could fuel the next decade of growth.
GLP-1 Dominance Powered Another Blowout Quarter
Eli Lilly’s second-quarter results left little room for criticism. Revenue climbed 48% year over year to $23 billion, topping Wall Street’s $20.7 billion estimate. Just two years ago, Lilly generated $11.3 billion in second-quarter revenue. The business has now more than doubled in size over that period.
The earnings story was just as convincing. Net income reached $7.1 billion versus analyst expectations of $5.4 billion, while adjusted earnings per share came in at $8.38, easily surpassing the $6.01 consensus. Management also lifted full-year revenue guidance to $85 billion to $87 billion from its previous $82 billion to $85 billion range, helping push the stock nearly 6% higher in premarket trading.
The real driver remains Lilly’s GLP-1 franchise.
| Drug | Q2 Revenue | Wall Street Estimate |
| Mounjaro | $9.9 billion | $8.9 billion |
| Zepbound | $4.9 billion | $4.7 billion |
| Oral GLP-1 pill | $98 million | $103 million |
Mounjaro is now the world’s best-selling drug at $9.9 billion in quarterly sales. For perspective, rival Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) reported Wegovy revenue of roughly $500 million and Ozempic sales of $4.8 billion during the same period, underscoring just how quickly Lilly has taken command of the market.
AI Could Become Lilly’s Next Blockbuster
But it is important to look beyond today’s blockbuster medicines. Lilly isn’t treating artificial intelligence as another productivity tool. It is rebuilding drug discovery, manufacturing, and clinical development around AI.
Last year, Lilly unveiled what it calls the pharmaceutical industry’s most powerful AI supercomputer, built with Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) technology. Earlier this year, the companies expanded that relationship into a joint AI innovation lab with plans to invest up to $1 billion over five years. The goal is to train biomedical foundation models capable of identifying promising drug candidates faster while also deploying robotics, digital twins, and AI agents throughout manufacturing operations.
The opportunity extends well beyond research. Lilly has already said AI helped increase production of Mounjaro and Zepbound during periods of overwhelming demand. It is also using digital twins to simulate manufacturing lines before making physical changes, reducing bottlenecks and improving supply chain efficiency. Those gains matter because every additional dose Lilly can produce translates into revenue that might otherwise be left on the table.
Meanwhile, the company continues expanding AI-powered drug discovery through partnerships, including an agreement with Insilico Medicine and its TuneLab platform, which allows collaborators to build AI models using decades of Lilly research data. If AI shortens development timelines or improves clinical success rates even modestly, the payoff could stretch across every therapeutic area Lilly pursues — not just obesity.
Key Takeaway
In short, GLP-1 drugs are producing the cash that is transforming Eli Lilly today. Mounjaro and Zepbound continue widening the gap with competitors, and management’s higher revenue outlook suggests demand remains far from saturated.
That said, savvy investors should avoid viewing Lilly as merely a weight-loss stock. Those blockbuster medicines are generating billions of dollars that can be reinvested into AI infrastructure, drug discovery, manufacturing, and future therapies. Granted, AI will take years to prove its full value, and there is no guarantee every investment succeeds. But if Lilly can use AI to discover medicines faster, manufacture them more efficiently, and expand beyond obesity, today’s GLP-1 franchise could become the foundation — not the ceiling — of its long-term growth story.
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