Moderna Sales Get Lift From Early Nod for Newest Covid Shot

 Moderna Inc. delivered better-than-expected profit and sales in the third quarter after an early start to sales of this season’s Covid boosters.

The company’s latest Covid shot was approved three weeks earlier than last year, according to a statement Thursday, helping drive product sales up 3.6%. Moderna still foresees 2024 product sales of $3 billion to $3.5 billion.

It’s unclear whether Moderna will sell as many Covid vaccines as it did last year, but it looks like a “durable and sizable market,” Moderna CFO Jamey Mock said in an interview. “It proves that there’s certainly a patient population that wants to be protected against Covid.”

Investors have been spooked since the pandemic by fading sales of Covid vaccines and a slow rollout for Moderna’s only other product, an RSV vaccine. The RSV shot was cleared in May, after customers had ordered rival products, and had just $10 million in sales in the quarter.

Moderna’s shares rose as much as 9.4%, the most intraday since May, when markets opened in New York after falling 48% this year through Wednesday’s close. They plunged in September after the company forecast 2025 sales below analysts’ expectations and pushed back its target to break even by two years to 2028.

Jefferies analyst Michael Yee called the third-quarter results “an incremental positive,” adding that some investors are relieved that even though Covid shots appear to have peaked early this season, Moderna didn’t lower its sales guidance.

Moderna is unlikely to see a substantial increase in RSV vaccine sales until the second half of 2025, when contracting for the next season takes place, Mock said.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company dramatically cut costs in the quarter, in part by reducing unused manufacturing capacity. That helped quarterly profit beat expectations at 3 cents a share.

On Thursday, Moderna announced expanded roles and promotions for several executives. President Stephen Hoge will assume responsibility of sales, as well as research and medical affairs. He’s taking over a commercial assignment that was held by Stephane Bancel, who will remain chief executive officer. The moves were first reported Tuesday by Bloomberg News.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/moderna-sales-lift-early-nod-114126317.html