Moderna
stock jumped Thursday after the Covid-19 vaccine maker surprised with quarterly profit and sales ahead of Wall Street’s expectations.
Moderna
is setting up to diversify with new drugs in the year ahead.
Moderna reported earnings per share of 55 cents on sales of $2.8 billion in the fourth quarter, smashing expectations among analysts surveyed by FactSet for a loss of 99 cents a share on sales of $2.5 billion.
Moderna reiterated its previously guided outlook for $4 billion in sales across 2024, with research and development expenses of $4.5 billion.
Shares of the company surged 12% on Thursday.
“2023 was a year of transition for Moderna as we adapted to the endemic market,” Stéphane Bancel, the company’s CEO, said in a statement. “Our development team made significant pipeline advancements across infectious diseases, oncology and rare diseases, while our commercial team increased our Covid-19 market share in the U.S.”
Indeed, vaccine fatigue and Covid-19’s shift into an endemic weighed on Moderna as its stock fell 45% in 2023. The Spikevax Covid-19 vaccine remains a key driver of overall revenue, which fell 40% in the fourth quarter from a year ago. Yet, even against this backdrop, Moderna managed to grow its U.S. market share to 48% during the fall 2023 Covid-19 season, up from 37% in 2022.
Moderna is now looking to leverage its mRNA technology for other drugs, including a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine that is poised to compete against those from two much larger rivals—
Pfizer
and
GSK.
Moderna released data this month showing its vaccine may lose efficacy faster than rivals, which weighed on the stock.
Nevertheless, Moderna expects regulatory approval for its RSV vaccine for older adults in the first half of this year. The company on Thursday said it would enter the RSV market “with a strong competitive profile with robust efficacy data, a well-established safety and tolerability profile, and as the only pre-filled syringe (PFS) product available at the time of launch.” These ready-to-use PFS products will save pharmacists and clinicians time, the vaccine maker said.
Investors will also anticipate updates on a promising new cancer treatment Moderna is developing in partnership with
Merck.
The two companies plan to initiate clinical studies in additional tumor types in 2024, Moderna said.
“With multiple upcoming Phase 3 data readouts in 2024, we remain focused on commercial execution and continued investment in our pipeline with financial discipline,” CEO Bancel said in a statement.
Write to Jack Denton at [email protected]
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