Ticker: Chipotle hikes burrito prices; Eli Lilly invests $3B to boost production

Chipotle is raising its U.S. prices to offset inflation and to compensate for a promise to increase portion sizes.

Chipotle’s chief corporate affairs officer, Laurie Schalow, confirmed that the Mexican restaurant chain was implementing a 2% price increase nationally. Schalow said it’s the first time the California-based company has raised its prices in more than a year.

Chipotle revealed the price increase after an analyst report released last week by investment bank Truist Securities noted a 2% price increase at approximately 20% of the chain’s 3,500 U.S. stores.

Truist, which raised its price target for Chipotle’s shares, also reported that customer traffic at the chain’s restaurants accelerated in November.

Chipotle said in October that its food, beverage and packaging costs all increased in the third quarter. It cited avocados as an example.

Eli Lilly invests $3B to meet demand for Mounjaro, Zepbound

Eli Lilly is spending another $3 billion to bulk up manufacturing as the drugmaker seeks to stoke production of some blockbuster drugs and future products.

Lilly said late last week it will expand a Kenosha County, Wisconsin, factory it bought early this year, and the investment will help meet growing demand for injectable products like its diabetes and obesity drugs, Mounjaro and Zepbound.

Those drugs brought in a combined $4.4 billion in sales for Lilly in this year’s third quarter.

The drugmaker plans to start construction of the expansion next year.

Lilly also announced other multibillion-dollar manufacturing expansion projects near its Indianapolis headquarters earlier this year.

Eli Lilly and Co. said that it has slated more than $23 billion to construct, expand or acquire manufacturing sites worldwide since 2020.