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 Johnson & Johnson 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 Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly and Company compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly and Company

Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the research and development, manufacture, and sale of a range of products in the healthcare field worldwide. It operates in two segments, Innovative Medicine and MedTech. The Innovative Medicine segment offers products for various therapeutic areas, such as oncology, immunology, neuroscience, pulmonary hypertension, infectious diseases, and cardiovascular and metabolism distributed through retailers, wholesalers, distributors, hospitals, and healthcare professionals for prescription use. The MedTech segment provides a portfolio of products used in the surgery, orthopedic, cardiovascular, and vision fields distributed through wholesalers, hospitals and retailers, and used in the professional fields by physicians, nurses, hospitals, eye care professionals and clinics. This segment also offers products and enabling technologies that support joint reconstruction, trauma, spine, sports related injuries, and others, as well as open, laparoscopic, and robotic surgical procedures; instrumentation, energy devices, stapling systems, wound closure, biosurgery products, and digital and robotic technologies; breast aesthetics and reconstruction; contact lenses under the ACUVUE brand; intraocular lenses for cataract surgery, and other products used in cataract and refractive procedures under the TECNIS brand. The company was founded in 1886 and is based in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets human pharmaceutical products in the United States, Europe, China, Japan, and internationally. The company offers cardiometabolic health products, including 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, Humulin U-500 for diabetes; Jardiance, Mounjaro, and Trulicity for type 2 diabetes; and Zepbound for obesity. It also provides oncology products, such as Cyramza for the second-line treatment of gastric cancer or gastro-esophageal junction adenocarcinoma; Erbitux for colorectal cancers and head and neck cancers; Inluriyo for breast cancer; Jaypirca for chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma; Retevmo for the treatment of metastatic NSCLC; TYVYT for classic hodgkin’s lymphoma; and Verzenio for breast cancer. In addition, the company offers immunology products, which include Ebglyss for severe atopic dermatitis; Olumiant for rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, severe alopecia areata, and COVID-19; Omvoh for ulcerative colitis; and Taltz for plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and non-radiographic axial spondylarthritis. Further, it provides Emgality for migraine prevention and episodic cluster headache, as well as Kisubla for symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease. The company has collaborations with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for the Jardiance product family; and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and Genentech, Inc. for lebrikizumab, as well as license agreements with Almirall, S.A. for Ebglyss; and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd for orforglipron; strategic collaboration with Ascidian Therapeutics for development of therapies for undisclosed monogenic kidney diseases; and BioArctic AB (publ) for new treatment. Eli Lilly and Company was founded in 1876 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Latest Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly and Company Stock News

As of July 6, 2026, Johnson & Johnson had a $624.3 billion market capitalization, compared to the Pharmaceuticals median of $651.1 million. Johnson & Johnson’s stock is up 29% in 2026, up 3.3% in the previous five trading days and up 66.71% in the past year.

Currently, Johnson & Johnson’s price-earnings ratio is 30.0. Johnson & Johnson’s trailing 12-month revenue is $96.4 billion with a 21.8% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 9.9%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $11.578 per share for the current fiscal year. Johnson & Johnson currently has a 2.1% dividend yield.

As of July 6, 2026, Eli Lilly and Company had a $1.1 trillion market cap, putting it in the 100th percentile of all stocks. Eli Lilly and Company’s stock is up 14.7% in 2026, up 0.2% in the previous five trading days and up 54% in the past year.

Currently, Eli Lilly and Company’s price-earnings ratio is 42.6. Eli Lilly and Company’s trailing 12-month revenue is $72.2 billion with a 35.0% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 55.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $36.205 per share for the current fiscal year. Eli Lilly and Company currently has a 0.6% dividend yield.

How We Compare Johnson & Johnson 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 Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly and Company’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly and Company Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Johnson & Johnson	JNJ	B
Eli Lilly and Company	LLY	B

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Johnson & Johnson has a Growth Score of 73, which is Strong. Eli Lilly and Company has a Growth Score of 69, which is Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Growth Grade breakdown above, both Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly and Company have a grade of B. For investors who focus solely on a company’s upward growth, further research should be conducted into both companies’ other financial metrics before deciding whether to invest.

Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly and Company’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Johnson & Johnson	JNJ	B
Eli Lilly and Company	LLY	B

Momentum grades help to 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. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Johnson & Johnson has a Momentum Score of 75, which is Strong. Eli Lilly and Company has a Momentum Score of 79, which is Strong.

The Momentum Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Momentum Grade breakdown above, both Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly and Company have a grade of B. For those who focus solely on a company’s momentum, further research will need to be conducted into both companies to see if they fit your individual needs as an investor.

Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly and Company’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Johnson & Johnson	JNJ	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.

Johnson & Johnson has a Earnings Estimate Score of 33, which is Negative. Eli Lilly and Company has a Earnings Estimate Score of 54, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Johnson & Johnson 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 Johnson & Johnson or Eli Lilly and Company is the better investment when it comes to estimate revisions.

Other Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly and Company Grades

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

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 Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite 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 F-Score.

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 Johnson & Johnson 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, Johnson & Johnson or Eli Lilly and Company Stock?

Overall, Johnson & Johnson stock has a Growth Score of 73, Momentum Score of 75 and Estimate Revisions Score of 33.

Eli Lilly and Company stock has a Growth Score of 69, Momentum Score of 79 and Estimate Revisions Score of 54.

Comparing Johnson & Johnson 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.