Moderna’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Tuesday, March 26, 2024.
Adam Glanzman | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Moderna The company on Thursday reported better-than-expected second-quarter revenue but lowered its full-year sales outlook, citing lower expected sales in Europe, a “competitive environment” for respiratory vaccines in the U.S. and the possibility of international revenue being deferred to 2025.
The biotech company now expects product revenue of $3 billion to $3.5 billion in 2024, down from a previous forecast of $4 billion.
The company’s shares closed down more than 20% on Thursday.
The company has begun shipping its mRESVIA respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, approved for use in older adults in May, in the U.S. This will be Moderna’s second commercially available product after its COVID-19 vaccine, for which demand has plummeted as the world emerges from the pandemic and relies less on shots and treatments.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC that the race for an RSV-COVID vaccine is “heating up,” noting that mRESVIA is the third RSV vaccine to come to market, following a 2015 vaccine. Pfizer and GSKThe latter took the market by storm last year.
He added that the company was “in pretty intense discussions with European governments” to receive supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna.
But “as of last week, some countries have told us that because of their very tight budgets, they cannot afford to buy more vaccines than they need because they already have other contracts,” Bancel said.
He was referring to the massive COVID-19 vaccine supply deal the European Union renegotiated with China. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTechHe also pointed to the ongoing war in Ukraine, which is straining the government budget.
Still, Moderna expects sales growth to return to normal in 2025 and to break even by 2026 thanks to new product launches, Bancel said.
Based on an analyst survey by LSEG, here’s how Moderna’s second-quarter report compares to Wall Street expectations:
- Loss per share: $3.33 (expected loss $3.39)
- Revenue: $241 million vs. $132 million expected
The company reported second-quarter sales of $241 million, down 37% from the same period a year ago for its COVID-19 vaccine product sales, compared with $344 million in the same period a year ago.
The company said the sales decline was due in part to an expected shift towards a seasonal COVID-19 vaccine market, where patients typically get their shots in the fall and winter. But Bancel said Moderna had a “strong spring season” among older Americans, who are being recommended for a booster shot of its latest COVID-19 vaccine.
Moderna reported a net loss of $1.28 billion, or $3.33 per share, for the second quarter, compared with a loss of $1.38 billion, or $3.62 per share, in the same period last year.
Mr. Bancel said the company’s losses were smaller than Wall Street had expected, thanks in part to cost-cutting measures.
“Moderna’s revenue came in slightly ahead of expectations, but their cost reductions came in well ahead of market expectations,” he said. “That’s why we’re very pleased with the progress they’ve made on both fronts.”
Cost of sales was $115 million, down 84% from the year-ago quarter, including a $14 million impairment charge on unused COVID-19 vaccine doses and $55 million in charges related to efforts to wind down the company’s manufacturing footprint.
Research and development expenses increased 6% to $1.2 billion in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2023. The increase was primarily due to personnel expenses, including an increase in employee headcount.
Meanwhile, selling, general and administrative expenses for the quarter fell 19% to $268 million compared to the second quarter of 2023. Selling, general and administrative expenses typically include the costs of advertising, selling and delivering a company’s products and services.
Moderna has so far been successful in bolstering investor sentiment about the post-COVID future: The company’s shares have risen nearly 20% this year on growing confidence in its pipeline and its messenger RNA platform, the technology used in its COVID-19 and RSV vaccines.
The biotech company currently has 45 products in development, five of which are in late-stage testing, including a combination vaccine targeting COVID-19 and influenza that could be approved as soon as 2025.
Moderna is also developing a standalone influenza vaccine and a personalized cancer vaccine. Merck There are also products such as injections against latent viruses.
