Eli Lilly Shares Lower Following Weaker-Than-Expected 2016 Guidance

Shares of Eli Lilly and Co LLY were trading lower by more than 1 percent at $81.78 early Tuesday morning after the company reported a weaker-than-expected fiscal 2016 guidance. Eli Lilly said it expects to earn $3.45 to $3.55 per share in fiscal 2016 on revenue of $20.2 billion to $20.7 billion. Wall Street analysts were projecting the company to earn $3.65 per share on revenue of $21.5 billion. "We enter 2016 in a position of strength anticipating continued growth," Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter said in a press release. "Our goal is to sustain the flow of valuable medicines from our pipeline to improve patients' lives and create value for shareholders." "In 2016 we expect multiple regulatory actions across therapeutic areas including diabetes, oncology and immunology," Derica Rice, Eli Lilly's executive vice president for global services and chief financial officer also said in the press release. "This will be another important year for execution of our innovation-based strategy, which will solidify our near- to medium-term growth prospects." The stock had closed down 1.66 percent at $82.86 on Monday.