Moderna stock sank Thursday — temporarily dragging shares of other Covid vaccine makers with it — after slashing its full-year outlook on continued supply challenges.
For the year, Moderna now expects $18 billion to $19 billion in revenue. Three months ago, the firm predicted $21 billion, based on supply agreements. Now, Moderna says short-term supply constraints pushed some deliveries expected this year out to 2023.
Chief Executive Stephane Bancel remained upbeat. He noted the company is working on its next-use cases for the messenger RNA technology behind its Covid vaccine. Moderna is also testing vaccines for influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and rare diseases. Moderna is also working on cancer drugs.
"It has never been clearer that the future of medicine is upon us," he said in a written statement.
On today's stock market, Moderna stock fell 0.8% to 147.50, paring wider losses from early in the regular session. The dive initially sent shares of fellow Covid vaccine makers BioNTech, Novavax and Pfizer tumbling in sympathy.
But BioNTech recovered and closed up 2.6% at 145.25. Novavax stock slide 1.6% to 20.17. Pfizer shares fell a fraction to 46.57.
Moderna Stock: Sales, Earnings Plummet
During the third quarter, Moderna earned $2.53 per share on $3.36 billion in sales. As expected, both measures crashed year over year as demand for Covid vaccines wanes. Earnings plunged 67% and were below forecasts for $3.30. Sales skidded 32% and lagged views for $3.53 billion.
Moderna noted the "decline in sales of the company's Covid-19 vaccines." Product sales — which don't include collaboration revenue — took a 35% tumble to $3.1 billion "due to the timing of market authorizations for our Covid-19 bivalent boosters and the related manufacturing ramp up."
The bivalent boosters target newer mutations in the omicron family. Pfizer and Moderna have launched these updated boosters. But so far, they have been largely unpopular. Less than 9% of adults have gotten the newest booster shots. Moderna's shot is available to children as young as 6.
Demand heading into 2023 also looks grim. Moderna noted it has signed agreements for $4.5 billion to $5.5 billion. That's below Moderna stock analysts' current forecast for $9.35 billion. The company says it expects additional agreements from key markets to boost sales.
Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.
