Eli Lilly stock tumbles 10% after drug giant misses estimates and slashes profit guidance

Eli Lilly on Wednesday fell short of profit and revenue expectations for the third quarter, weighed down by disappointing sales of its blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro, and slashed its full-year adjusted profit guidance.

The company's stock tumbled 10% in premarket trading. Shares of its main rival, Novo Nordisk, fell roughly 3%.

Eli Lilly now expects full-year adjusted earnings of between $13.02 and $13.52 per share, down from previous guidance of $16.10 to $16.60 per share. The drugmaker cited a $2.8 billion charge recorded during the third quarter and related to its acquisition of bowel disease drugmaker Morphic Holding as denting its results.

Eli Lilly also lowered the high-end of its revenue outlook for the year and now expects sales of between $45.4 billion and $46 billion. The company's previous guidance called for revenue of as much as $46.6 billion.

Here's what Eli Lilly reported for the period ended September 30 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: 

The September period was Zepbound's third full quarter on the U.S. market after winning approval from regulators nearly a year ago. The weekly injection raked in $1.26 billion in sales for the period, below the $1.76 billion that analysts expected, according to StreetAccount.

Meanwhile, Mounjaro posted $3.11 billion in revenue for the third quarter, more than double what it booked in the same period a year ago. But analysts expected $3.77 billion in sales for the diabetes treatment, according to StreetAccount.

Demand in the U.S. has far outpaced supply for Lilly's incretin drugs, such as Zepbound and Mounjaro, over the last year. Both treatments mimic certain gut hormones to tamp down a