Lilly says 2007 earnings will be less than expected

Eli Lilly & Co. projected a 2007 earnings rise that trailed analysts’ estimates because the planned purchase of Icos Corp., maker of the impotence pill Cialis, would reduce profit more than some analysts expected.

Net income next year will be $3.25 to $3.35 a share, said the Indianapolis-based maker of Zyprexa, the world’s top-selling schizophrenia medicine, at an investor meeting in New York.

Its shares fell 87 cents, or 1.6%, to $53.99.