Sifting through countless of stocks in the Pharmaceuticals industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Novartis AG or Eli Lilly and Company because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Novartis AG and Eli Lilly and Company compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Novartis AG and Eli Lilly and Company

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, distributes, markets, and sells pharmaceutical medicines in Switzerland and internationally. The company offers Entresto, an angiotensin receptorneprilysin inhibitor to treat symptomatic chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF); Cosentyx to treat plaque psoriasis, pso riatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and nonradiographic axial spondy loarthritis; Kisqali, a selective oral cyclin dependent inhibitor of kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6); Promacta/Revolade to treat immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), thrombocytopenia, and patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA); Tafinlar+Mekinist, an oral combination therapy to treat patients with certain types of cancers; and Jakavi for the treatment of myelofibrosis, polycythemia vera, and acute or chronic graftversushost disease (GvHD). It also provides Tasigna to treat philadelphia chromosomepositive chronic myeloid leukemia in the chronic and/or accelerated phase; Xolair for the treatment of allergic asthma and nasal polyps or severe chronic rhinosi nusitis with nasal polyps; Ilaris to treat fever syndromes, Still’s disease, and acute gouty arthritis; Pluvicto to treat prostatespecific membrane anti genpositive metastatic castrationresistant prostate cancer; Sandostatin SC and Sandostatin LAR to treat acromegaly carcinoid tumors and other types of functional gastro intestinal and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors; Zolgensma for the treatment of genetic root cause of spinal muscular atrophy; Lucentis; Leqvio to reduce LDL cholesterol; Lutathera; Scemblix; and Fabhalta. The company focuses on therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, oncology, and hematology. It has a license and collaboration agreement with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop, manufacture, and commercialize Leqvio (inclisiran), a therapy to reduce LDL cholesterol. Novartis AG was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, and markets human pharmaceuticals in the United States, Europe, China, Japan, and internationally. The company offers Basaglar, Humalog, Humalog Mix 75/25, Humalog U-100, Humalog U-200, Humalog Mix 50/50, insulin lispro, insulin lispro protamine, insulin lispro mix 75/25, Humulin, Humulin 70/30, Humulin N, Humulin R, and Humulin U-500 for diabetes; Jardiance, Mounjaro, and Trulicity for type 2 diabetes; and Zepbound for obesity. It also provides oncology products, including Alimta, Cyramza, Erbitux, Jaypirca, Retevmo, Tyvyt, and Verzenio. In addition, the company offers Olumiant for rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, severe alopecia areata, and COVID-19; Taltz for plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and non-radiographic axial spondylarthritis; Omvoh for ulcerative colitis; Cymbalta for depressive disorder, diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain, generalized anxiety disorder, fibromyalgia, and chronic musculoskeletal pain; Ebglyss for severe atopic dermatitis; and Emgality for migraine prevention and episodic cluster headache. It has collaborations with Incyte Corporation; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and Genentech, Inc.; Biologics, Inc., AbCellera Biologics Inc.; Verge Genomics; collaboration with AdvanCell to advance novel targeted alpha therapies for the treatment of cancer; and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd; Strategic Collaboration with Eli Lilly to advance development of its myeloid engager platform for autoimmune disease, as well as Strategic partnership with NVIDIA Corporation. The company also has a research collaboration agreement with Insilico Medicine for the development of advance therapies; and Nimbus Therapeutics, LLC for the development of novel oral treatment for obesity and other metabolic diseases. Eli Lilly and Company was founded in 1876 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Latest Pharmaceuticals and Novartis AG, Eli Lilly and Company Stock News

As of January 30, 2026, Novartis AG had a $286.7 billion market capitalization, compared to the Pharmaceuticals median of $479.8 million. Novartis AG’s stock is up 7.8% in 2026, up 1% in the previous five trading days and up 44.45% in the past year.

Currently, Novartis AG’s price-earnings ratio is 20.4. Novartis AG’s trailing 12-month revenue is $56.4 billion with a 25.5% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 9.0%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $8.920 per share for the current fiscal year. Novartis AG currently has a 2.7% dividend yield.

As of January 30, 2026, Eli Lilly and Company had a $928.6 billion market cap, putting it in the 100th percentile of all stocks. Eli Lilly and Company’s stock is down 3.5% in 2026, down 2.6% in the previous five trading days and up 28.99% in the past year.

Currently, Eli Lilly and Company’s price-earnings ratio is 50.7. Eli Lilly and Company’s trailing 12-month revenue is $59.4 billion with a 31.0% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 53.9%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $23.640 per share for the current fiscal year. Eli Lilly and Company currently has a 0.7% dividend yield.

How We Compare Novartis AG and Eli Lilly and Company Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Novartis AG and Eli Lilly and Company’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Novartis AG and Eli Lilly and Company Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Novartis AG	NVS	C
Eli Lilly and Company	LLY	F

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Novartis AG has a Value Score of 42, which is Average. Eli Lilly and Company has a Value Score of 6, which is Ultra Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Novartis AG or Eli Lilly and Company has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Novartis AG or Eli Lilly and Company is the better investment when it comes to value.

Novartis AG and Eli Lilly and Company’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Novartis AG	NVS	A
Eli Lilly and Company	LLY	A

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Novartis AG has a Quality Score of 97, which is Very Strong. Eli Lilly and Company has a Quality Score of 81, which is Very Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Quality Grade breakdown above, both Novartis AG and Eli Lilly and Company have a grade of A. For investors who focus solely on a company’s overall quality, you will need to conduct further research into both companies to see if they are a good fit for your portfolio. As a good rule of thumb, you should always analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before choosing a company to invest in.

Novartis AG and Eli Lilly and Company’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Novartis AG	NVS	D
Eli Lilly and Company	LLY	C

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Novartis AG has a Earnings Estimate Score of 29, which is Negative. Eli Lilly and Company has a Earnings Estimate Score of 56, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Novartis AG or Eli Lilly and Company has an Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade that could be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Novartis AG or Eli Lilly and Company is the better investment when it comes to estimate revisions.

Other Novartis AG and Eli Lilly and Company Grades

In addition to Quality, Estimate Revisions and Value, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Momentum.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Novartis AG and Eli Lilly and Company pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Novartis AG or Eli Lilly and Company Stock?

Overall, Novartis AG stock has a Value Score of 42, Estimate Revisions Score of 29 and Quality Score of 97.

Eli Lilly and Company stock has a Value Score of 6, Estimate Revisions Score of 56 and Quality Score of 81.

Comparing Novartis AG and Eli Lilly and Company’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.