Why Lilly (LLY) International Revenue Trends Deserve Your Attention

Have you assessed how the international operations of Eli Lilly (LLY) performed in the quarter ended March 2025? For this drugmaker, possessing an expansive global footprint, parsing the trends of international revenues could be critical to gauge its financial resilience and growth prospects.

In the modern, closely-knit global economic landscape, the capacity of a business to access foreign markets is often a key determinant of its financial well-being and growth path. Investors now place great importance on grasping the extent of a company's dependence on international markets, as it sheds light on the firm's earnings stability, its skill in leveraging various economic cycles and its broad growth potential.

International market involvement serves as insurance against economic downturns at home and enables engagement with economies that are growing more quickly. Still, this move toward diversification is not without its challenges, as it involves navigating through the fluctuations of currencies, geopolitical threats, and the distinctive nature of various markets.

While analyzing LLY's performance for the last quarter, we found some intriguing trends in revenues from its overseas segments that Wall Street analysts commonly model and monitor.

The recent quarter saw the company's total revenue reaching $12.73 billion, marking an improvement of 45.2% from the prior-year quarter. Next, we'll examine the breakdown of LLY's revenue from abroad to comprehend the significance of its international presence.

Exploring LLY's International Revenue Patterns

During the quarter, China contributed $450.8 million in revenue, making up 3.54% of the total revenue. When compared to the consensus estimate of $479.16 million, this meant a surprise of -5.92%. Looking back, China contributed $429.2 million, or 3.17%, in the previous quarter, and $376.2 million, or 4.29%, in the same quarter of the previous year.

Japan generated $402.2 million in revenues for the company in the last quarter, constituting 3.16% of the total. This represented a surprise of -22.15% compared to the $516.65 million projected by Wall Street analysts. Comparatively, in the previous quarter, Japan accounted for $559.2 million (4.13%), and in the year-ago quarter, it contributed $363.9 million (4.15%) to the total revenue.

Of the total revenue, $997.4 million came from Other foreign countries during the last fiscal quarter, accounting for 7.84%. This represented a surprise of -19.15% as analysts had expected the region to contribute $1.23 billion to the total revenue. In comparison, the region contributed $1.06 billion, or 7.86%, and $892.9 million, or 10.18%, to total revenue in the previous and year-ago quarters, respectively.

Europe accounted for 18.77% of the company's total revenue during the quarter, translating to $2.39 billion. Revenues from this region represented a surprise of +22.46%, with Wall Street analysts collectively expecting $1.95 billion. When compared to the preceding quarter and the same quarter in the previous year, Europe contributed $2.45 billion (18.09%) and $1.44 billion (16.43%) to the total revenue, respectively.

International Market Revenue Projections

It is projected by analysts on Wall Street that Lilly will post revenues of $14.41 billion for the ongoing fiscal quarter, an increase of 27.5% from the year-ago quarter. The expected contributions from China, Japan, Other foreign countries and Europe to this revenue are 3.3%, 3.7%, 8.7% and 13.7%, translating into $478.56 million, $530.43 million, $1.26 billion and $1.98 billion, respectively.

Analysts expect the company to report a total annual revenue of $59.85 billion for the full year, marking an increase of 32.9% compared to last year. The expected revenue contributions from China, Japan, Other foreign countries and Europe are projected to be 3.4% ($2.06 billion), 3.8% ($2.28 billion), 8.8% ($5.29 billion) and 14.7% ($8.77 billion) of the total revenue, in that order.

The Bottom Line

Relying on international markets for revenues, Lilly faces both prospects and perils. Thus, tracking the company's international revenue trends is essential for accurately projecting its future trajectory.

In a world where international interdependencies and geopolitical conflicts are ever-increasing, Wall Street analysts closely monitor these trends for companies having international presence to adjust their earnings forecasts. Of course, there are several other factors, including a company's standing within its home borders, that influence analysts' earnings forecasts.

Here at Zacks, we put a great deal of emphasis on a company's changing earnings outlook, as empirical research has shown that's a powerful force driving a stock's near-term price performance. Quite naturally, the correlation is positive here -- an upward revision in earnings estimates drives the stock price higher.

With an impressive externally audited track record, our proprietary stock rating tool - the Zacks Rank - harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions and serves as an effective indicator of a stock's near-term price performance.

At present, Lilly holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). This ranking implies that its near-term performance might mirror the overall market movement. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>

Assessing Lilly's Stock Price Movement in Recent Times

The stock has witnessed an increase of 0.2% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's an increase of 9.1%. In the same interval, the Zacks Medical sector, to which Lilly belongs, has registered an increase of 1.4%. Over the past three months, the company's shares saw a decrease of 10.5%, while the S&P 500 declined by 3.1%. In comparison, the sector experienced a decline of 8.7% during this timeframe.

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