TacticScaleWhat Eli Lilly Does & How It Makes Money (LLY)
Updated October 2026 · reflects Eli Lilly's latest reported financials
Global drugmaker behind major diabetes, obesity, cancer and immunology medicines. Lilly earns revenue by selling patented prescription drugs to healthcare systems in the US, Europe, China, Japan and other markets.
How Eli Lilly makes money
Lilly earns revenue by selling patented prescription drugs to healthcare systems in the US, Europe, China, Japan and other markets. It adds to its pipeline through its own R&D and through partnerships and licensing deals with other drugmakers and biotech firms.
What Eli Lilly does
Eli Lilly and Company, founded in 1876 and headquartered in Indianapolis, is a large global pharmaceutical company that sells medicines in the United States, Europe, China, Japan and other markets. Its cardiometabolic business is the core. It includes a long-running insulin line (Humalog, Humulin, Basaglar), type 2 diabetes drugs Mounjaro, Trulicity and Jardiance, and the obesity treatment Zepbound. Lilly also sells cancer drugs, including Verzenio and Inluriyo for breast cancer, Retevmo for lung cancer, and Jaypirca, Cyramza, Erbitux and TYVYT. Its immunology drugs are Taltz, Olumiant, Omvoh and Ebglyss, and its neuroscience drugs include Emgality for migraine and an Alzheimer's treatment. The company adds to its research through partnerships, including Boehringer Ingelheim on Jardiance, Roche/Genentech on lebrikizumab and Chugai on orforglipron, plus deals with several biotech firms working on genetic medicines and new drug targets.
Products & services
- Mounjaro
- Zepbound
- Trulicity
- Jardiance
- Verzenio
- Taltz
What is Eli Lilly worth?
On an owner-earnings DCF, Eli Lilly's most-likely value is about $1,110 versus a recent price near $1,183 (7% above fair value). But TacticScale only calls a stock undervalued when the price sits below its conservative no-growth floor (~$192) with a margin of safety — so the honest verdict here is “Fairly priced — no edge.” Fair value earns its keep only at the extremes, not in the wide middle.
Price sits in the normal range — fair value isn't actionable here; it earns its keep only when price drops below the no-growth floor, or runs to roughly double the optimistic case.
Analysis, not advice. Fair value is a margin-of-safety estimate from a deterministic owner-earnings DCF, not a price target or recommendation. See the full breakdown →
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