Shares of Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) fell in pre-market trading on Thursday after the pharma company reported earnings per share of $3.61, a decline of 66% year-over-year and which missed analysts’ consensus estimate of $4.6.
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Revenues declined by 29.2% in Q4 to $5.1 billion falling short of analysts’ expectations of $5.2 billion. The fall in revenues was mainly a result of a drop in sales of the company’s COVID-19 vaccines.
In a big positive for the company, MRNA announced that its personalized mRNA cancer vaccine mRNA-4157/V940, developed along with Merck (MRK) had been granted a breakthrough therapy designation by the U.S. FDA when used in combination with Keytruda.
Looking forward, management has now advance purchase agreements (APA) regarding COVID vaccine sales of around $5 billion for delivery in 2023, with potential additional sales opportunities in the United States and other key markets. The company expects product sales in the first half of this year to the tune of approximately $2 billion.
Overall, Wall Street analysts are cautiously optimistic about MRNA stock with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on seven Buys and eight Holds.