Eli Lilly And Company Stock Buy Recommendation Reiterated (LLY)

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) has been reiterated by TheStreet Ratings as a buy with a ratings score of A . The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, attractive valuation levels, solid stock price performance, expanding profit margins and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat weak growth in earnings per share.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.39, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. Along with the favorable debt-to-equity ratio, the company maintains an adequate quick ratio of 1.37, which illustrates the ability to avoid short-term cash problems.
• LLY's share price has surged by 28.47% over the past year, reflecting the market's general trend, despite their weak earnings growth during the last quarter. Regarding the stock's future course, although almost any stock can fall in a broad market decline, LLY should continue to move higher despite the fact that it has already enjoyed a very nice gain in the past year.
• The gross profit margin for LILLY (ELI) & CO is currently very high, coming in at 86.00%. Regardless of LLY's high profit margin, it has managed to decrease from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, LLY's net profit margin of 16.50% compares favorably to the industry average.
• LLY, with its decline in revenue, slightly underperformed the industry average of 5.9%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues fell by 10.4%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells pharmaceutical products worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 13.1, equal to the average drugs industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Eli Lilly and has a market cap of $54.71 billion and is part of the health care sector and drugs industry. Shares are up 12.4% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday.

You can view the full Eli Lilly and Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

--Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff.

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