(Update: August 3, 2021 at 07:32 a.m. ET)
(August 3) Shares of Eli Lilly & Co. $(LLY)$ fell 1.67% in premarket trading Tuesday after the drug maker missed second-quarter profit expectations while revenue beat, as gross margin as a percentage of revenue fell due primarily to an excess inventory charge related to COVID-19 antibodies.
Net income slipped to $1.39 billion, or $1.53 a share, from $1.41 billion, or $1.55 a share, in the year-ago period.
Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to $1.87 from $1.45, but was below the FactSet consensus of $1.89. Revenue grew 23% to $6.74 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $6.60 billion, with revenue from its largest drug Trulicity rising 25% to $1.54 billion to top expectations of $1.51 billion.
Gross margin as a percentage or revenue fell to 71.0% from 77.8%.
"As the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to evolve during the second quarter of 2021, Lilly incurred excess inventory charges primarily due to the combination of changes to current and forecasted demand from U.S. and international governments and near-term expiry dates of COVID-19 antibodies," the company said in a statement.
Lilly estimates the COVID-19 pandemic hurt revenue by about $200 million in the U.S. and $50 million outside the U.S. For 2021, the company expects adjusted EPS of $7.80 to $8.00, surrounding the FactSet consensus of $7.89.
The stock has soared 46.1% year to date through Monday, while the S&P 500 has gained 16.8%.
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