What Makes Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) a Lucrative Investment?

Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Health Care Fund” second-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The fund declined 5.06% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter, against a challenging backdrop for the broader Health Care sector, compared to a 6.19% decline for the Russell 3000 Health Care Index (benchmark) and a 10.99% gain for the Russell 3000 Index (the Index). In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its second-quarter 2025 investor letter, Baron Health Care Fund highlighted stocks such as Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY). Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The one-month return of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) was -2.64%, and its shares lost 5.52% of their value over the last 52 weeks.  On July 30, 2025, Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) stock closed at $760.08 per share, with a market capitalization of $682.351 billion.

Baron Health Care Fund stated the following regarding Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:

"We added to our position in Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY), a global pharmaceutical company best known for developing and selling GLP-1 medications for diabetes and obesity. The most recent generation of GLP-1 drugs (brand names Mounjaro and Zepbound) not only offer superb blood sugar control for diabetics, but also can drive 20% or greater weight loss and likely improve cardiovascular outcomes in both diabetic and non-diabetic obese patients. We think these drugs will become the standard of care for both diabetes and obesity, and will become a $150 billion category. We see Lilly as the leader in the space, setting a high efficacy bar with their GLP-1s on the market and continuing to innovate and develop next-generation medications that are more effective and more convenient. We are excited about once-daily oral orforglipron, which recently showed Phase 3 data in type 2 diabetes that rivaled Novo Nordisk's injectable Ozempic. We expect Phase 3 orforglipron in obesity this summer to also be competitive with Novo Nordisk's injectable Wegovy. Beyond orforglipron, Lilly is also studying a high efficacy injectable (retatrutide) in Phase 3, an amylin hormone analogue (eloralintide) that can be combined with Zepbound in Phase 2, and a muscle preserving drug bimagrumab (which can also be combined with Zepbound) in Phase 2. We continue to think this market is in the early innings of uptake, we think the adoption of GLP-1s will drive Lilly to triple its total revenues by 2030, and we think Lilly has the pipeline portfolio of drugs to sustain its leadership position."

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) is in 21st position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 119 hedge fund portfolios held Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) at the end of the first quarter, which was 115 in the previous quarter. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) reported strong results in first quarter of 2025, with revenue increasing 45% compared to Q1 2024. While we acknowledge the potential of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.

In another article, we covered Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) and shared the list of stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Unstoppable Stocks That Could Double Your Money.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.