by Patrick Wingrove
(Reuters) – Moderna reported a surprise third-quarter profit on Thursday, driven by cost cuts and higher-than-expected sales of its COVID-19 vaccine, despite weak revenue from its new respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine.
In the quarter, Moderna recorded a profit of 13 million dollars (12.05 million euros), or 3 cents per share, compared to a loss of 3.6 billion dollars the previous year. Analysts had expected a loss of $753 million, or $1.90 per share, according to a consensus compiled by Reuters.
Its Spikevax COVID vaccine generated $1.8 billion in revenue, up 3.5% from 2023. This result is well above analysts’ expectations, who expected revenue of $1.38 billion. dollars.
The company said it benefited from a surge in sales in the United States following the launch of its COVID-19 vaccine this year.
“We shipped more product early on and we were able to make sure all health care providers had access to COVID vaccines,” James Mock, chief financial officer, said in an interview.
Sales of Spikevax in the rest of the world saw a decline compared to 2023, a year when sales benefited from orders postponed from 2022, according to Moderna.
The company said expenses for the quarter were $1.93 billion, nearly 50% lower than the prior year, driven in part by a decline in spare manufacturing capacity and inventory write-downs.
Sales of mRESVIA, Moderna’s new RSV vaccine, were $10 million, far short of the $135 million analysts expected, according to LSEG data.
“We couldn’t be competitive in the heart of contracting season because (mRESVIA) was approved in May,” James Mock said, adding that “many contracts were already in place and customers already had a substantial amount of stock.
The company reiterated that it expects revenue between $3 billion and $3.5 billion for the year. It said it had lowered the upper end of its cost of sales forecast range for 2024 to 40%-45% of product sales, from 40%-50% previously.
Moderna shares jumped nearly 10% in pre-market trading.
(Written by Patrick Wingrove, with Leroy Leo in Bangalore; Pauline Foret; edited by Augustin Turpin)
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