Yahoo Finance Eli Lilly (LLY) Veteran Anat Ashkenazi to Join Alphabet as CFO
Eli Lilly and Company LLY announced that its executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO) Anat Ashkenazi has resigned after serving for 23 years at the company. Ashkenazi has joined Google’s parent company Alphabet GOOGL as CFO and senior vice president, effective Jul 31, 2024. Until then, she will continue to serve in her present role at Lilly.
Until Ashkenazi joins in her new role as CFO of Google and Alphabet, Ruth Porat, the present CFO of Alphabet will continue as CFO. In July last year, Alphabet announced that Ruth Porat would move into a new role as president & chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, effective from September 2023, but remain CFO until a successor was hired. Anat will be based in the San Francisco Bay Area and will report directly to Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.
Ashkenazi has been Lilly’s CFO since 2021. Before she assumed the position of CFO, Ashkenazi served as senior vice president, controller, and chief financial officer of Lilly Research Laboratories, as well as CFO for Lilly’s several global business areas. Lilly has begun its search for a new CFO, both internally and externally.
Lilly’s stock has risen 42.7% year to date compared with an increase of 18.5% for the industry.
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In the last three years of her tenure as CFO, Lilly experienced tremendous growth. Its stock rose 273.8% in the last three years. Lilly’s revenue growth is being driven by higher demand for drugs like Mounjaro, Verzenio, Jardiance Taltz and others. Lilly’s new tirzepatide medicines, diabetes drug Mounjaro and weight loss medicine, Zepbound, have become key top-line drivers for Lilly despite a short time on the market. Mounjaro was launched in mid-2022. Zepbound was launched in November 2023.
Tirzepatide is a dual GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonist (GIP/GLP-1 RA). The GLP-1 segment is an important class of drugs for multiple cardiometabolic diseases and is gaining significant popularity with the demand for weight loss drugs rising rapidly. Lilly launched Mounjaro and Zepbound during Ashkenazi's time as CFO.
It is believed that Ashkenazi’s deep experience at Lilly will be good for Google and Alphabet, which is investing heavily in generative artificial intelligence, growing rapidly in the booming cloud-computing market and cutting costs through layoffs. However, investors are surprised about Ashkenazi’s transition from the healthcare sector to the tech industry. Nonetheless, her experience in healthcare can help a tech giant like Alphabet push into the healthcare industry.
Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider
Lilly currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Eli Lilly and Company Price and Consensus
Eli Lilly and Company price-consensus-chart | Eli Lilly and Company Quote
Some better-ranked stocks in the healthcare sector are Acrivon Therapeutics ACRV and Heron Therapeutics HRTX, with a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy) each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
In the past 60 days, loss estimates for Acrivon Therapeutics have narrowed from $3.51 per share to $2.47 per share for 2024. For 2025, loss estimates have narrowed from $3.41 per share to $2.55 per share over the same timeframe.
ACRV beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark once, delivering an average earnings surprise of 3.56%. Year to date, shares of ACRV have risen 50.2%.
In the past 60 days, loss estimates for Heron Therapeutics have narrowed from 22 cents per share to 10 cents per share for 2024. For 2025, estimates have improved from a loss of 9 cents per share to earnings of 1 cent per share over the same timeframe. Year to date, shares of HRTX have risen 124.7%.
Earnings of Heron Therapeutics beat estimates in three of the last four quarters while missing in one, delivering a four-quarter average earnings surprise of 30.33%.
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Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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