Eli Lilly Reports Mixed 3Q Results

Drugmaker Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as expenses fell and sales of its diabetes and cancer drugs rose.

Net profit rose to $799.7 million, or 75 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, from $500.6 million, or 47 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding special items, the company earned 89 cents per share, handily beating the average analyst expectation of 76 cents per share.

Revenue rose nearly 2 percent to $4.96 billion, but narrowly missed analysts' expectations of $4.98 billion, as a strong dollar weighed.

Sales growth took an 8 percent hit during the quarter, the company said in a statement. Excluding the dollar impact and lower prices, Lilly would have recorded a 12 percent growth in sales.

Operating expenses fell 7 percent to $2.72 billion.

The company, which made the world's first commercially available insulin product, also raised its full-year forecast largely due to a gain from a change to its drug deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb  earlier this year.

The Indianapolis-based drugmaker said it now expected full-year profit of $3.40-$3.45 per share from $3.20-$3.30. Analysts were expecting a profit of $3.28 per share and revenue of $19.93, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of the company were up about 3.5 percent at $79.71 in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)