Keith McCullough repeats his Eli Lilly (LLY) pick as Mounjaro carries the quarter

What happened

Eli Lilly's tirzepatide drug Mounjaro drove most of the company's sales growth last quarter, the same day Keith McCullough called the stock another pick. For holders, that leaves a premium-priced stock leaning on one product line for most of its growth.

Profit grew, but more slowly than sales. In an 8-K filed with the SEC on Oct. 29, Eli Lilly reported third-quarter revenue of $24.4 billion, up 38.6% from the same quarter a year earlier. Net income rose 15.5% to $6.5 billion, and diluted earnings per share rose 16.3% to $7.22.

Mounjaro brought in about $10.7 billion worldwide in the quarter. By OptimistFi's arithmetic on the company's figures, it drove about 62% of total revenue growth while making up only about 44% of sales.

Keith McCullough (@KeithMcCullough) posted on X on Oct. 29.

"$LLY remains Bullish TRADE and TREND @Hedgeye and another Signal Strength Stocks pick"

The stock rose sharply in its first session after the release. It closed at $1373.70, up 6.6% from $1288.30 on Oct. 28.

Read more: ELI LILLY & (LLY) company research

Why it matters

The release and the move sit beside McCullough's call, but on their own they say nothing about it.

OptimistFi's case rests on results like these, with revenue and profit both rising from a year earlier. It holds that Eli Lilly turns a high-margin cardiometabolic franchise, led by Mounjaro and Zepbound, plus a deep late-stage pipeline into outsized growth.

That case also needs volume-led growth and lasting margins to justify the price. The shares trade at 58.8 times the company's earnings over the last year.

Fast growth is not new here. In the fiscal year to Dec. 31, 2025, revenue was $65.18 billion with a net margin of 31.7%, after growing 44.7% on the year before.

The risk runs the other way. A lasting slowdown in tirzepatide volume or pricing, from rival drugs or payer limits, could hold growth to large-pharma norms if the pipeline does not fill the gap.

Stock perps: every US stock that trades as a perpetual future, by leverage, live

What's next

The next quarterly report will show whether revenue and net income keep rising from a year earlier. A break in that run would test the case most directly.

More from OptimistFi

• LLY stock: research and coverage of ELI LILLY &
• Stock research on every company OptimistFi covers

From OptimistFi Perps