Eli Lilly  (LLY) – Get Free Report posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday, while issuing a robust near-term outlook, thanks in part to surging sales of its diabetes and weight-loss treatments, which continue to offset a slump in revenue for its legacy diabetes drug Trulicity.

Adjusted profit for the three months ended in December were $2.49 a share, a 19% increase from the same period in 2022 and firmly ahead of the Wall Street consensus forecast of $2.22 a share. Group revenue, Eli Lilly said, rose 28% from a year earlier to $9.35 billion, beating analysts’ consensus forecast of an $8.93 billion tally.

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Eli Lilly’s new Mounjaro drug, which targets obesity and could challenge the early market dominance of Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, produced sales of $2.21 billion. Zepbound sales were pegged at $175.8 million.

Trulicity saw sales were down 14% from 2022 levels at $1.67 billion. Taltz, its treatment for severe plaque psoriasis, saw sales rise 11% to $709 million. 

Looking into the current financial year, Eli Lilly said, non-GAAP earnings would likely rise to between $12.20 and $12.70 a share with revenue in the region of $40.4 billion and $41.6 billion.

The year 2023 saw “tremendous achievement” at Lilly, “which delivered life-changing medicines to more patients than ever before resulting in strong revenue growth,” said Chief Executive David Ricks in a statement. 

“We advanced our pipeline of new medicines for serious diseases and created new partnerships and innovative ways of collaborating to add to that pipeline.”

“Lilly invested in the quality, reliability and resilience of our supply chain with new advanced manufacturing plants and lines in the U.S. and in Europe,” he added. 

“Entering 2024, we remain focused on the opportunity in front of us, to help solve some of the most challenging health-care problems in the world and make life better for millions of patients.” 

Eli Lilly shares were marked 3% higher immediately following the earnings report to indicate an opening-bell price of $727.63 each, a move that would extend its three-month gain to around 22.2%.

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