AbbVie and Eli Lilly are chasing different growth engines heading into 2026: AbbVie leans on immunology drugs Skyrizi and Rinvoq plus a fresh acquisition, while Lilly rides surging demand for its GLP-1 metabolic treatments. Lilly's FY2025 revenue grew far faster, but AbbVie trades at a lower valuation.
Eli Lilly and Co grew FY2025 revenue roughly 45% to nearly $65.2 billion. AbbVie's revenue for the same period, by contrast, rose about 8.7% to nearly $61.2 billion. The gap reflects two different strategies for replacing aging blockbusters with next-generation therapies.
AbbVie leans on immunology and a new acquisition
AbbVie's Skyrizi and Rinvoq made up roughly 42% of its 2025 sales. To diversify beyond that concentration, the company announced it would acquire Apogee Therapeutics for approximately $10.9 billion. Net income for FY2025 was close to $4.3 billion, with free cash flow reaching nearly $17.8 billion.
However, AbbVie's debt-to-equity ratio stood at negative 21x as of its December 2025 balance sheet, with a current ratio of approximately 0.7x, meaning total liabilities exceed shareholder equity. Patent expirations and rising biosimilar competition threaten its immunology drugs, and government-mandated price cuts under the Inflation Reduction Act also threaten revenue for Vraylar and Botox.
Lilly's GLP-1 drugs drive faster growth
Lilly's Mounjaro and Zepbound accounted for roughly 56% of its total 2025 revenue, and net income for the year reached approximately $20.6 billion. The company's debt-to-equity ratio was roughly 1.6x and its current ratio about 1.6x.
Lilly still faces its own concentration risk, since most of its sales come from a handful of cardiometabolic drugs, and it competes with GSK plc in some therapeutic areas. Its pipeline includes Retatrutide, a triple-agonist weight-loss drug, and a small interfering RNA therapy targeting lipoprotein(a) for cardiovascular disease prevention that analysts believe could become a blockbuster if approved.
Valuation favors AbbVie, growth favors Lilly
Lilly trades at a forward P/E of 32.4x versus AbbVie's 18.4x, reflecting higher expected future earnings. AbbVie's price-to-sales ratio of 7.1x tops Lilly's 3.2x. AbbVie's market cap sits near $451 billion against Lilly's roughly $1.1 trillion.
According to The Motley Fool's Brendan Coffey, Lilly's franchise in GLP-1s is "too strong to ignore", given that most patients who start the treatment tend to stay on it long-term. He concluded that long-term investors should favor Eli Lilly over AbbVie, even though AbbVie's own pipeline includes potential blockbusters for schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease and certain solid tumors.
Source: The Motley Fool
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