1Q Earnings Preview: What To Expect From US, EU Big Hitters

Bernstein analysts expect Eli Lilly & Co. and several other big pharma companies that report earnings in US dollars to get a boost from the continued strengthening of the US dollar, creating a foreign exchange headwind after recent quarters when exchange rates hurt pharma revenues. Bernstein's Tim Anderson expects the company to report $0.88 in earnings per share (EPS) and $5bn in first quarter revenue, including a boost from recent sales growth for diabetes starJardiance (empagliflozin), which Lilly recently said it would test as a treatment for heart failure. Consensus estimates are for $4.8bn in revenue and EPS of $0.85. Investors will look for early sales figures from new products, including the recently approved Taltz (ixekizumab) for psoriasis (Also see "FDA OK's Lilly's Taltz; Rival To Novartis' Cosentyx " - Scrip, 23 March, 2016.).

As for future growth, expect analysts to derive new insights from Lilly executives about the company's most anticipated clinical data...