Lilly forecasts 2014 profit in line with estimates<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/lilly-issues-2014-forecast-line-estimates-124634063--finance.html"><img src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/7b6xDo.cEhu4pWkS61vIGw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9NzU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2014-01-07T125328Z_1_CBREA060ZT500_RTROPTP_2_US-LILLY-FORECAST.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="A worker is seen in an Eli Lilly research lab in an undated publicity photo." align="left" title="A worker is seen in an Eli Lilly research lab in an undated publicity photo." border="0" /></a>Eli Lilly and Co on Tuesday forecast its profit will fall by up to one-third this year, as cheaper generic forms of its Zyprexa schizophrenia treatment and Cymbalta depression drug hurt results, but the outlook was in line with expectations. Analysts, on average, estimated $2.78 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The Indianapolis-based company forecast revenue this year between $19.2 billion and $19.8 billion, also in line with analysts' expectations. Atlantic Equities analyst Richard Purkiss said 2014 will be the "trough year" in Lilly's painful three-year patent cliff, which began in October 2011, when it lost U.S. patent protection for Zyprexa, then its biggest product. Despite lingering skepticism among many investors about Lilly's prospects, Purkiss said he expects company revenue to bounce back strongly in 2015, and for the company to have mid-teens percentage growth in earnings from 2014 to 2017.</p><br clear="all"/>
Source: Lilly forecasts 2014 profit in line with estimates (http://news.yahoo.com/lilly-issues-2014-forecast-line-estimates-124634063--finance.html)