Both are still buys three years later

Article Excerpt

On September 21, 2018, Eli Lilly set up its animal-health business as a separate company called Elanco Animal Health and sold 19.8% of its shares through an initial public offering at $24 each. The company disposed of its remaining 80.2% stake in Elanco in March 2019. Under the terms of the deal, Lilly investors exchanged roughly 65.0 million shares for 293.29 million Elanco shares. The spinoff has worked out well for Lilly, which is now up over 160%. Elanco has gained just 17% since the IPO, but the involvement of an activist investor should spur the stock higher. ELI LILLY & CO. $275 is a buy. The company (New York symbol LLY; Manufacturing Sector; Shares outstanding: 906.6 million; Market cap: $249.3 billion; Dividend yield: 1.4%; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.lilly.com) discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets human pharmaceutical products. In the third quarter of 2021, sales of COVID-19 treatments totalled $217.1 million; there were no sales in 2020. That’s partly why its total sales rose 18.0%, to $6.77…