Forget Weight Loss Drugs: Here's An Even Better Reason to Invest in Eli Lilly
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By Prosper Junior Bakiny – Apr 27, 2026 at 8:15PM ESTKey PointsEli Lilly is best known for its work in the weight loss market.The company has billion-dollar drugs in other areas. The drugmaker continues to expand its pipeline. Eli Lilly (LLY 1.77%) is currently the leader in the weight loss market. Sales of the company's anti-obesity medicine, Zepbound, are growing fast. It also recently launched Foundayo, an oral GLP-1 drug that should help expand its addressable market.
And Eli Lilly has several other highly promising candidates in this field. The projected rapid growth of the weight-loss drug market is a strong reason to consider the stock. However, investors should keep in mind that other, newer anti-obesity therapies will enter the market. Even if they aren't as good as Eli Lilly's, they will at least disrupt the company's pricing power. Thankfully, Eli Lilly is well equipped to deal with these challenges over the medium term, partly thanks to an underappreciated (in my view) aspect of its business. Here's why Eli Lilly is a buy beyond its current growth pillars. Image source: The Motley Fool. Eli Lilly isn't a one-trick pony Eli Lilly's tirzepatide, the compound marketed as Zepbound and also approved for Type 2 diabetes (where it is sold under the brand name Mounjaro), is setting industry records. It is already one of the best-selling compounds in the world, despite being approved for the first time not that long ago -- in 2022, to be exact. That highlights the strong demand for medicines in this niche, as well as the company's breakthroughs -- tirzepatide was the first dual GLP-1/GIP agonist approved by regulatory authorities. It's only natural that Eli Lilly should focus much of its efforts in this area. However, the company has other products in its portfolio that, for many other pharmaceutical companies, would be key growth drivers. Consider the company's cancer treatment, Verzenio. Last year, this medicine generated $5.7 billion in sales, representing an 8% year-over-year increase. Taltz, an immunosuppressant, racked up $3.6 billion in sales, 9% higher than the previous fiscal year. Eli Lilly has other, newer products that analysts expect will eventually generate over $1 billion in annual sales. The list includes Ebglyss, an eczema treatment, Jaypirca, a cancer medicine, and Kisunla, a treatment for Alzheimer's disease. These medicines span three therapeutic areas: Oncology, immunology, and neuroscience. Eli Lilly's ability to develop blockbuster drugs across multiple fields can help mitigate the impact of competition in its core therapeutic areas. ExpandNYSE: LLYEli LillyToday's Change(-1.77%) $-15.69Current Price$868.27Key Data PointsMarket Cap$835BDay's Range$868.04 - $891.2052wk Range$623.78 - $1133.95Volume2.7MAvg Vol3.1MGross Margin83.04%Dividend Yield0.70% It's important to note that this is exactly what the company's biggest rival, Novo Nordisk, failed at. The Denmark-based pharmaceutical giant once dominated the weight-loss market. But once it lost ground to Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk's financial results worsened, and its shares fell off a cliff. That's partly because Novo Nordisk generates almost all its revenue from its diabetes or weight-loss products while being far less diversified than Eli Lilly. Eli Lilly is still diversifying Eli Lilly has doubled down on its diversification plans in recent years, notably by acquiring smaller biotechs or signing licensing deals. Most recently, the drugmaker announced it would acquire Kelonia Therapeutics, a privately held company, for $3.25 billion in cash, along with potential milestone payments, for a total equity value of up to $7 billion. This acquisition grants Eli Lilly access to Kelonia Therapeutics' innovative gene therapy platform, which has the potential to improve the treatment of some cancers. This deal also strengthens Eli Lilly's genetic medicine platform, which it has improved in recent years through other acquisitions, including that of Verve Therapeutics in 2025. Meanwhile, the company is expanding its neuroscience pipeline through the acquisition of Centessa Pharmaceuticals -- a drugmaker focused on developing drugs for sleep-wake disorders -- and deepened its oncology pipeline through the buyout of Scorpion Therapeutics. This list is not exhaustive. What does all of this tell us about Eli Lilly? The company is not only positioned to make more breakthroughs and dominate the weight-loss market even as new drugs start competing with its medicines, but it is also looking to make significant breakthroughs in other fields and drive top-line growth well after its current crop of therapies has lost patent exclusivity. Those are strong reasons to consider the stock. Read NextApr 25, 2026 •By Selena MaranjianShould You Add a Healthcare Stock to Your Portfolio This Month?
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The Surprising Math Behind Its 2026 Valuation.Apr 21, 2026 •By Rich SmithWhy Did Eli Lilly Stock Drop Today?Apr 20, 2026 •By David Jagielski, CPAWill Eli Lilly's New GLP-1 Pill Get the Stock Get Back to a $1 Trillion Valuation?About the AuthorProsper Junior Bakiny is a contributing Motley Fool healthcare analyst covering biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare stocks.
Before The Motley Fool, Prosper wrote about investing topics ranging from stock market news to private equity for various companies. He holds a master’s degree in corporate finance from the University of Maryland Global Campus.TMFPBakinyStocks MentionedEli LillyNYSE: LLY$868.27(-1.77%)-$15.69Novo NordiskNYSE: NVO$41.20(+0.07%)+$0.03Centessa Pharmaceuticals PlcNASDAQ: CNTA$39.51(+0.10%)+$0.04*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.