Moderna beats Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit and sales

By Patrick Wingrove

(Reuters) -Moderna on Thursday reported first-quarter profit and sales that beat Wall Street estimates, helped by the company’s cost-cutting efforts following waning post-pandemic demand for its COVID-19 vaccine.

The U.S. vaccine maker also said it did not expect to get regulator approval for its combination shot to protect against both COVID-19 and influenza until 2026, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it required late-stage data demonstrating the shot’s efficacy against the flu.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) previously said it hoped to launch the vaccine for the autumn respiratory disease season in 2025 or 2026.

Its shares were down 1.4% at $28.15 in premarket trading.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based drugmaker said it plans to cut its adjusted operating costs by as much as $1.7 billion by 2027 compared to its estimate for this year. It expects operating costs for 2027 to be between $4.7 billion and $5 billion, the company said.

Finance chief James Mock said in an interview Moderna expects those costs to fall as it completes several late-stage vaccine trials. Moderna posted an adjusted loss of $2.52 per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ estimates of a $3.14 per share loss, according to LSEG data. Mock said the smaller-than-expected loss was driven "all by cost cutting."

The company brought in $108 million in quarterly revenue, down 35% on last year but coming in slightly ahead of analysts expectations of $106.2 million, according to LSEG data.

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The company’s COVID shot Spikevax generated $84 million, while $2 million came from sales of mRESVIA, its RSV vaccine. Analysts had expected sales of $75.67 million and $3.3 million respectively for Spikevax and mRESVIA.

The drugmaker has been banking on revenue from newer mRNA shots to make up for falling sales of its COVID vaccine and less-than-expected uptake of its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, which sent shares down nearly 60% last year.

The Trump administration has this year raised concerns about the prospects for new vaccines, following its decision to delay the regulatory approval of Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX)’s rival COVID-19 vaccine. The FDA had set a goal date of April 1 for the decision and missed that deadline.

Drugmakers have also been grappling with the prospect of sector-specific tariffs, following the Trump government’s decision to launch a probe into pharmaceutical imports that sets the stage for levies on the industry.

Mock said the tariff policies in place today will have a "very immaterial" impact on Moderna, as all of the company’s drug substance for the United States is made in Massachusetts.

Moderna reiterated its full-year 2025 product sales forecast of $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion, with most expected in the second half of the year. The company had previously said it expected $200 million of its predicted revenue for 2025 to come in during the first half of the year.

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