Eli Lilly ripped off the bandage when it reported preliminary fourth-quarter results in mid-January, getting the bad news out of the way early. On Thursday morning, when the company formally released its fourth-quarter report,

Eli Lilly ( LLY 3.89%) stock inched 2.5% higher through 9:50 a.m. ET Thursday after beating on the top and bottom lines in this morning's Q4 earnings report. Heading into the report, analysts forecast Lilly would earn $5.08 per share on sales of $13.4 billion. As it turns out, Lilly earned $5.32 per share in Q4, and sales were $13.5 billion.

Investing.com - Eli Lilly's (NYSE: LLY) full-year profit forecast largely surpassed Wall Street expectations on Thursday, as the drugmaker targets expansion of its weight-loss treatments, sending shares higher. At 10:59 AM ET, Eli Lilly's stock was up 3.2%.