Founded in 1876, Eli Lilly has pioneered medical breakthroughs in diabetes, the Salk Polio Vaccine, depression, cancer and heart disease. Today, top funds continue to bet big on the company as LLY stock nears a fresh breakout with its relative strength line already hitting a new high.
In addition to earning a spot on the IBD Leaderboard watchlist of top growth stocks, Eli Lilly also made the latest list of new buys by the best mutual funds. Twenty-seven of these top-performing institutional investors scooped up roughly $395 million worth of LLY stock.
Eli Lilly has a long and impressive history of medical advances.
It introduced the world's first commercially available insulin product to treat diabetes in 1923. It was the first company to manufacture and distribute the Salk Polio Vaccine globally in 1955. Eli Lilly introduced Prozac in 1986 to treat clinical depression. And in 2019, the company purchased Loxo Oncology to broaden treatment options for patients with cancer.
Eli Lilly Continues Medical Advances With Jardiance
Earlier this month, Eli Lilly announced that its drug Jardiance showed significant clinical benefits in adults stabilized in the hospital following acute heart failure. Results came from its Empulse phase III trial.
Jardiance is used to lower blood sugar and reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and hospitalization for heart failure for certain groups of patients.
Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Jardiance to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and hospitalization for heart failure in adults with heart failure based on data from the EMPEROR-Preserved trial. This decision marks the third FDA approval for Jardiance stemming from the EMPOWER program.
Eli Lilly has more than 35,000 employees worldwide, with over 8,000 engaged in research and development. Headquartered in Indiana, it has R&D facilities in seven countries. Lilly markets its products in 120 countries. The company's broad range of drugs under its umbrella also include Trulicity, Cialis, Almita and more.
LLY Stock Sets Up While Market Corrects
As the stock market indexes try to establish a bottom and rebound, Eli Lilly looks to build on its market-leading relative strength and break out.
LLY stock has formed a cup base showing a 284 buy point. While building that chart pattern, the stock has retaken its 50-day moving average, which remains above its longer-term 200-day line.
The stock briefly broke out from a cup with handle in mid-December. Lilly then quickly pulled back to begin forming its current base. The current pattern is only marginally above the prior buy point.
Eli Lilly has made solid progress since July 2021. As indicated by its 91 RS Rating, LLY stock is within the top 10% of stocks in terms of price performance over the past 12 months.
LLY stock closed Monday's session up around 1%, putting it 5% below the buy point.
Follow Matthew Galgani on Twitter at @IBD_MGalgani.
