Moderna Stock Rises on Q3 Earnings & Sales Beat, Reiterates View

Moderna, Inc. MRNA reported earnings of 3 cents per share in the third quarter of 2024. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was a loss of $1.89 per share. In the year-ago period, management incurred a loss of $9.53 per share.Revenues in the quarter were $1.86 billion, ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.26 billion. Total revenues rose nearly 2% year over year, driven by higher product sales.Moderna’s shares were up nearly 8% in pre-market trading today, likely due to the better-than-expected earnings reported by the company. Investors were expecting the company to report a loss in the third quarter. However, the company’s positive earnings in the quarter took the investor community by surprise. The better-than-expected earnings performance was driven by management’s focus on cost efficiency and productivity improvements.Year to date, the stock has lost 47.9% compared with the industry’s 2.4% decline.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchStay up-to-date with all quarterly releases: See Zacks Earnings Calendar.More on MRNA’s EarningsModerna currently has two marketed vaccines in its portfolio — the COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax and the recently launched RSV vaccine mResvia. Product sales were up 4% year over year to $1.82 billion, driven by higher sales of Spikevax in the United States. Per management, the COVID-19 vaccine’s sales benefited from an earlier launch allowing the company to meet demand more effectively.This quarter was also the first time when Moderna started recording mResvia sales following its FDA approval in May. Management recorded $10 million from the RSV vaccine’s sales in the quarter, which significantly missed our estimate of $70 million.Per management, this significantly lower-than-expected mResvia sales was due to the vaccine being approved and recommended later in the contracting season, by that time many customers had already completed their orders.Management also generated $42 million from grant, collaboration and licensing and royalty revenues in the quarter compared with $74 million in the year-ago period. The companyusually earns collaboration revenues from agreements with several big pharma/biotech companies, including Merck MRK and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses were $281 million, down 36% year over year. This downside is a result of Moderna’s cost discipline and efficiencies resulting from prior investments toward its foundational capabilities over the last year, resulting in a significant reduction of purchased services and the use of external consultants.Research & development (R&D) expenses were $1.1 billion, down 2% from the year-ago period’s levels. This downside was driven by lower spendings on clinical studies and productivity improvements, partially offset by the cost of purchasing a priority review voucher (PRV).MRNA’s 2024 GuidanceMRNA reiterated its product revenue guidance for 2024, expecting to generate product sales in the range of $3-$3.5 billion.Management now expects full-year R&D expenses to be between $4.6 billion and $4.7 billion compared with the previous guidance of around $4.8 billion. It reiterated its guidance for SG&A expenses to be around $1.2 billion.Management raised the guidance for capital expenditure, now expected to be around $1.2 billion (previously: nearly $0.9 billion).The company maintained its guidance to end this year with a cash balance of around $9 billion.Updates on MRNA’s PipelineManagement reiterated its plans to submit three regulatory filings seeking the FDA’s approval before the year end. This includes fresh regulatory filings for mRNA-1283 (next-generation COVID-19 vaccine) and mRNA-1083 (COVID-19 plus and influenza combination vaccine). Moderna also plans to file a regulatory filing for mResvia seeking label expansion for use in high-risk adults aged 18-59 years.Initially, Moderna had announced plans to support each of these filings with a PRV to reduce the FDA’s review period for each filing by four months. Management now has decided not to use a PRV when it seeks approval for mRNA-1083.The company has more than 40 mRNA-based investigational candidates in different stages of clinical studies, targeting various indications, including cancer. Moderna is evaluating multiple candidates in late-stage studies—mRNA-1647 [cytomegalovirus (CMV) vaccine], mRNA-1010 (influenza vaccine), mRNA-4157/V940 [individualized neoantigen therapy (INT)] and mRNA-1083. Data from the CMV study is expected as early as 2024-end.Moderna is co-developing mRNA-4157 with Merck. MRNA and MRK are evaluating mRNA-4157 in three pivotal phase III studies — one in melanoma indication and the other two in the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) space. Since the onset of this year, Moderna and Merck have also started three new clinical studies evaluating mRNA-4157 across cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC), renal cell carcinoma and muscle-invasive bladder cancer indications.Moderna intends to start a pivotal study on its methylmalonic acidemia (MMA) therapeutic mRNA-3705 in the first half of 2025. This candidate was selected by the FDA for its Support for Clinical Trials Advancing Rare Disease Therapeutics (START) pilot program to accelerate the development of novel therapies addressing unmet medical needs in rare diseases.MRNA’s Zacks RankModerna currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).Moderna, Inc. Price Moderna, Inc. price | Moderna, Inc. QuoteKey Picks Among Biotech StocksSomebetter-ranked stocks from the sector are Amicus Therapeutics FOLD and Biogen BIIB. While FOLD sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present, BIIB carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.In the past 60 days, estimates for Amicus Therapeutics’ 2024 EPS have moved up from 21 cents to 22 cents. EPS estimates for 2025 have increased from 49 cents to 53 cents during the same period. Year to date, shares of FOLD have lost 17.3%.FOLD’s earnings beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark once, delivering an average surprise of 23.96%.In the past 60 days, estimates for Biogen’s 2024 EPS have increased from $16.12 to $16.37. EPS estimates for 2025 have improved from $17.09 to $17.15. Year to date, shares of BIIB have lost 31.6%.Biogen’s earnings beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark once, delivering an average surprise of 9.99%.Free Today: Profiting from The Future’s Brightest Energy SourceThe demand for electricity is growing exponentially. At the same time, we’re working to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels like oil and natural gas. 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