Drugmaker Lilly hikes 2018 forecast, beats 1Q expectations

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Shares of Eli Lilly and Co. climbed early Tuesday after the drugmaker hiked its 2018 forecast and reported first-quarter earnings that beat expectations.

The insulin maker said it now expects adjusted earnings to range from $5.10 to $5.20 per share, with revenue coming in between $23.7 billion and $24.2 billion. That's up from the company's previous forecast for adjusted earnings of $4.81 to $4.91 per share on revenue of $23 billion to $23.5 billion.

Analysts forecast, on average, earnings of $4.88 per share on $23.43 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

Lilly reported first-quarter net income of $1.22 billion, after booking a $110.8 million loss in last year's quarter.

On a per-share basis, the Indianapolis-based company said earnings, adjusted for asset impairment costs, came to $1.34 per share.

Those results also exceeded the average expectation on Wall Street, which was $1.13 per share, according to Zacks Investment Research.

The drugmaker posted revenue of $5.7 billion in the period, also beating Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $5.53 billion.

Lilly shares gained $1.35 to $81.55 before markets opened Tuesday. The stock had fallen 5 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has stayed nearly flat.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on LLY at https://www.zacks.com/ap/LLY