Moderna Inc. raised its Covid-19 vaccine sales outlook for the year, finalizing contracts with Japan and several American health-care companies as the US government largely stops paying for the shots.
(Bloomberg) — Moderna Inc. raised its Covid-19 vaccine sales outlook for the year, finalizing contracts with Japan and several American health-care companies as the US government largely stops paying for the shots.
Moderna now sees sales of $6 billion to $8 billion, according to a statement Thursday, up from a previous prediction of at least $5 billion. The company is in talks with purchasers in the US, European Union and other parts of the world for more potential orders, and $1 billion in previously anticipated 2023 sales were pushed to 2024.
Shares of Moderna rose 8.4% before US markets opened. They lost 39% this year through Wednesday’s close.
The sales forecast increase is a bright spot for Moderna, which has been struggling to appease investors now that the emergency phase of the pandemic is winding down. The company is turning to new products, such as the cancer vaccine it’s developing with Merck & Co., to take advantage of its messenger RNA technology.
“I am pleased with the progress our US commercial team has made to get new contracts in place for fall 2023,” Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel said in the statement. “Our late-stage clinical pipeline is firing on all cylinders.”
For the quarter, Moderna reported a loss of $3.62 a share and sales of $344 million. Analysts were expecting a wider $3.92-a-share loss and $322 million in revenue. The results mark Moderna’s first quarterly loss since the end of 2020 when its original Covid-19 vaccine was first approved.
Even though the biggest bolus of sales are behind, the US fall will still be an important milestone for Moderna. The company will compete with Pfizer Inc. in the US private market as the federal government stops buying the shots for free distribution. Overseas, Moderna recently signed a deal to work toward producing mRNA vaccines in China.
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