This Healthcare Company Just Touched $1 Trillion in Market Cap. Should You Invest $1,000?

Just a handful of companies have entered the rarefied trillionaire club. So far, it's been limited to huge technology companies like the Magnificent Seven, plus oil giant Saudi Aramco and Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway. But last week, another company -- this one in the healthcare sector -- broke the $1 trillion barrier.

That's pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), the share price of which rose 1.7% in intraday trading on Nov. 21, putting its market cap briefly at $1 trillion. The stock settled back a bit in late-day trading, and the company's value slipped just below the magic number, at around $950 billion. It returned to a $1 trillion cap in intra-day trading on Monday.

Overall, Lilly's shares are up 38% so far in 2025 and 645% over the past five years. Despite that level of growth, this $1 trillion stock still has room to run and might just be worth a $1,000 investment on your part. Here's why.

Image source: Getty Images.

What's driven up Eli Lilly's share price?

In the third quarter, Eli Lilly's medication tirzepatide, a GLP-1 drug that effectively treats both type 2 diabetes and obesity, became the best-selling drug on the planet. In doing so, it knocked Keytruda, the cancer immunotherapy drug made by Merck, off the throne. Tirzepatide is sold as Mounjaro for treating type 2 diabetes and as Zepbound for weight loss.

The market for GLP-1 medications is already huge, and is expected to explode. It was valued at about $52 billion in 2024; that's predicted to rise to $187 billion by 2032, for compound annual growth of almost 17%. And that's a conservative estimate -- some projections of the market's growth are considerably higher.

In its third-quarter filing, Lilly said its share of the GLP-1 drug market hit 58% in the third quarter.

But that's not all. Other positive developments have added to investor enthusiasm for Eli Lilly in recent months.

A government deal gives access to Medicare and Medicaid patients

In early November, both Lilly and competitor Novo Nordisk struck a deal with the Trump administration to significantly cut prices for their anti-obesity drugs for Medicare and Medicaid patients, in exchange for a three-year grace period from tariffs.

Both companies must provide their drugs at much lower costs -- Zepbound's price for these patients will drop from $1,000 to $299 for a month's supply -- but they will have greater access to Medicare payments. Medicare, with 68 million enrollees, is the single largest payer (in dollars) for U.S. healthcare services, so access to its patients should be an enormous boon for the drugmakers. Medicaid, the other massive U.S. government-run healthcare program, with 71 million enrollees, will eventually cover the drugs as well.

A GLP-1 pill is on the way

And there's more. Eli Lilly has developed a GLP-1 weight loss pill that has proved in clinical testing to be as effective as its injectable drugs in helping people lose weight and control their blood sugar. In fact, the drug trial showed that people taking it lost an average of 27 pounds, or 12.4% of their body weight, after taking the pill for 72 weeks. Lilly is expected to submit the drug for final approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by the end of this year and offer it to the public in early 2026.

The overall number of patients in the U.S. alone starting GLP-1 treatments for purposes other than diabetes has increased by 700% since 2019. That makes Eli Lilly's shares look extremely attractive, even at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 52.

And GLP-1 drugs are also reportedly being considered for other uses, including treatment for Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, as well as arthritis and addiction. With Lilly the out-front leader in this rapidly expanding market, it's difficult to make an argument against holding the stock. If you have $1,000 that isn't needed for monthly bills, to pay down short-term debt, or to bolster an emergency fund, you might want to consider putting it toward shares in this stock.

Matthew Benjamin has positions in Berkshire Hathaway and Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.