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modern First-quarter losses reported on Thursday were narrower than expected as the company carried out its cost-cutting efforts and sold its Severe special infectious pneumonia vaccineIts only commercial product exceeded expectations.
As Moderna gets closer to putting, the results are in another product urgently needed in the market Require Global COVID-19 vaccinations have plummeted.The biotech company expects its vaccine to win U.S. approval respiratory fusion virus May 12th.
Moderna shares closed up more than 12% on Thursday after the results were announced.
Moderna’s first-quarter report compared with Wall Street expectations, according to a survey of analysts by London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG):
- Loss per share: $3.07, expected loss of $3.58
- income: $167 million vs. $97.5 million expected
“We’ve made tremendous progress on the company (operating expense) side,” Moderna Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel said Thursday of the cost cuts on CNBC.scream boxHe added that the biotech company’s team “has done an outstanding job right-sizing the company.”
Moderna’s first-quarter sales were $167 million, with Covid vaccine revenue down about 90% from the same period last year. The company reported revenue of $1.86 billion in the same period last year.
Moderna Chief Financial Officer Jamey Mock said in an interview with CNBC that about $100 million came from the United States and $67 million from international markets, mainly Latin America.
The company said the revenue decline was due in part to an expected transition to a seasonal COVID-19 vaccine market, with patients typically getting vaccinated in the fall and winter.
Moderna reported a first-quarter net loss of $1.18 billion, or $3.07 per share. This compares with net income of $79 million, or 19 cents per share, in the same period last year.
The company reiterated its full-year 2024 sales guidance of about $4 billion, which includes revenue from its RSV vaccine. Notably, Moderna expects sales of just $300 million in the first half of this year, as respiratory virus season typically occurs in the second half.
Executives said on an earnings call Wednesday that the second quarter will include part of the company’s recently announced contract with Brazil to supply 12.5 million coronavirus vaccine doses.
Moderna said it expects to resume sales growth in 2025 and achieve breakeven in 2026 as new products are launched.
For the first quarter, Mock said the company was “more encouraged by what we saw from a productivity perspective” than increased COVID-19 vaccine sales.
Cost of sales in the first quarter was US$96 million, down 88% from the same period last year. This includes a $30 million write-down on unused COVID-19 vaccine doses and a $27 million charge related to the company’s production scale-down.
Research and development expenses fell 6% to $1.1 billion in the first quarter compared with the same period in 2023. Spending on trials is reduced.
Meanwhile, selling, general and administrative expenses for the period fell 10% to $274 million compared with the first quarter of 2023.
The company said part of the decrease was due to its investments in “digital business capabilities” and a greater focus on using artificial intelligence technology to streamline operations.
Last month, Modena declare Partnering with artificial intelligence heavyweight OpenAI, it aims to automate nearly all business processes for biotech companies.
Mock told CNBC that Moderna has been working with OpenAI for the past year. He added that 60% to 70% of the company’s employees currently use artificial intelligence chatbots to work.
So far, Moderna has managed to boost investor confidence in its path forward post-COVID. The company’s shares are up more than 10% this year on growing confidence in its pipeline and messenger RNA platform, the technology used in its Covid vaccine.
The biotech company currently has 45 products in development, including some in late-stage trials. These include a combination vaccine against COVID-19 and influenza, which could be approved as soon as 2025.
Moderna is also working with Merck & Co. to develop a standalone flu vaccine, a personalized cancer vaccine Injection of latent virusand other products.
Correction: Moderna’s cost of sales for the first quarter was $96 million. An earlier version incorrectly described the time period.
