Eli Lilly's sees strength in 2017, shares take off

Eli Lilly shares are up sharply after it laid out a better-than-expected 2017 forecast nearly a month after it had announced the failure of a key Alzheimer's treatment in testing.

Lilly said Thursday that it expects adjusted earnings to range between $4.05 and $4.15 per share next year on revenue of $21.8 billion to $22.3 billion.

Industry analysts polled by FactSet expect earnings of $3.96 per share on $21.68 billion in revenue.

The outlook represents growth from the company's 2016 forecast for adjusted earnings of $3.50 to $3.60 per share on $20.8 billion to $21.2 billion in revenue.

The Indianapolis company expects that growth to come from new drugs and established products like the insulin Humalog.

Shares of Eli Lilly and Co. climbed 4 percent to $70.38 in early trading.