Moderna's stock surges after better-than-expected quarterly results

By Eleanor Laise

First-quarter loss is narrower than expected despite plunging COVID vaccine sales

Moderna Inc.'s stock jumped 9% Thursday as the company reported a narrower-than-expected first-quarter loss and looks toward launching its second product in the U.S. later this year.

The COVID vaccine maker reported a first-quarter net loss of $1.175 billion, or $3.07 a share, after net income of $79 million, or 19 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. The FactSet consensus was for a loss of $3.56 a share. Revenues totaled $167 million in the quarter, down 91% from a year earlier but beating the FactSet consensus of $93 million.

Moderna (MRNA) reiterated its full-year 2024 guidance of $4 billion in product sales, which includes projected COVID vaccine revenues as well as sales of a new respiratory syncytial virus vaccine that the company hopes to launch in time for the fall vaccination season.

A Food and Drug Administration decision on approval of Moderna's RSV vaccine is expected by May 12, which would leave time for a key recommendation on the shot from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's advisory committee on immunization practices at its late June meeting. The new vaccine will compete with GSK PLC (GSK) and Pfizer Inc. (PFE) shots that are already on the market.

Looking toward the fall vaccination season, Moderna said it is also working with the FDA and regulators to line up the timing of flu and COVID vaccine approvals, hoping that earlier, synchronized availability of the two updated shots will help boost vaccine uptake.

As Moderna anticipates the new fall vaccine launches, the company is looking to artificial intelligence to help streamline operations and boost productivity, CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement. The company last week announced an expanded collaboration with OpenAI, embedding generative-AI tools throughout the company.

More than 60% of Moderna employees are now using ChatGPT, Chief Financial Officer Jamey Mock told MarketWatch, and the company has over 750 GPTs, the large language models that can create human-like content and perform a broad array of tasks. "That has enabled so much productivity," Mock said.

As the company reshuffles its research and development priorities, Moderna said Thursday that it had agreed to end its gene-editing collaboration with biotech company Metagenomi Inc. (MGX). Shares of Metagenomi, which went public earlier this year, dropped more than 17% Thursday.

Moderna now has 10 late-stage products in its pipeline, Mock said, across respiratory, latent viruses, rare disease and other therapeutic areas.

An experimental, individualized cancer vaccine that Moderna is developing with Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) is being tested in additional tumor types, Moderna said. Three new clinical studies are evaluating the individualized neoantigen therapy in combination with Merck's cancer drug Keytruda for treatment of bladder cancer, kidney cancer and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.

The company said at a March investor event that experimental vaccines for Epstein-Barr virus, Varicella-Zoster virus and norovirus are advancing toward phase 3 trials.

After Thursday morning's gains, Moderna's stock was on track for its highest close since July 2023. The shares are up 22% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX is up 5.6%.

-Eleanor Laise

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05-02-24 1229ET

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