Shares of Moderna Inc (NASDAQ: MRNA) opened more than 15% down on Thursday as sales of its COVID-19 vaccine missed estimates in the fiscal third quarter. The biotech company is also dovish on sales of its vaccine moving forward.
Q3 financial performance
Moderna reported $3.3 billion in earnings for Q3 that translates to $7.70 per share – a massive increase from $233 million in loss (59 cents per share) in the comparable quarter of last year, as per the earnings press release.
The pharmaceutical company, which has its COVID-19 vaccine as the only product that has received regulatory approval so far, generated $4.9 billion in revenue versus the year-ago figure of $157 million.
The results, however, fell shy of the FactSet consensus that stood at $9.09 for EPS and $6.2 billion in revenue. Just over a week ago, Deutsche Bank said Moderna had a downside to $250 a share.
Moderna sold 208 million doses of its Coronavirus vaccine in Q3 that generated $4.8 billion in revenue. The remaining $100 million came from grants and collaboration.
Future outlook
Moderna now expects to deliver up to 800 million doses of its COVID-19 shot this year, generating $15 billion to $18 billion in revenue. In comparison, it was confident at the end of the previous quarter (Q2) that it’ll deliver up to a billion doses and generate close to $20 billion in revenue.
The lowered vaccine outlook, the company said, was primarily due to the delays in delivery, particularly to outside the United States. Millions of doses that it had expected to deliver this year will now be shipped in early 2022.
According to Moderna, its COVID-19 vaccine will generate $17 billion to $22 billion in revenue next year. The median of its estimate is lower than the Street consensus that stands at $21.4 billion.
The U.S. FDA is currently reviewing Moderna’s vaccine for safety before authorising the shot for teens and children.
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