Covid vaccine sales push Moderna past expectations in Q2, shares surge

Better-than-expected COVID-19 vaccine sales pushed Moderna past Wall Street's second-quarter forecasts on Wednesday.

The company said that its Spikevax vaccine brought in USD 4.53 billion during the quarter. Analysts were looking for around USD 3.6 billion, according to FactSet.

Moderna shares surged at the start of trading on Wednesday.

The company's vaccine sales represent a drop from the nearly USD 6 billion in sales the vaccine brought in during the year's first quarter, when a virus surge through the United States pushed more people to seek protection.

But those sales could pick up again later this year.

Moderna has developed an updated version of its vaccine for a fall booster campaign that combines the original shot with protection against the omicron variant.

Federal regulators also recently endorsed the vaccine for children as young as six months old.

The COVID-19 vaccine is Moderna's main source of revenue, outside of grants and money from collaborations. Total revenue climbed 9 per cent in the quarter to USD 4.75 billion.

But operating expenses also swelled 78 per cent to USD 2.3 billion for the vaccine maker, which has several products in late-stage clinical trials, the most expensive phase of research.

Net income plunged 21 per cent to USD 2.2 billion in the second quarter, and earnings totalled USD 5.24 per share.

Analysts expected earnings of USD 4.58 per share on about USD 4.1 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

More than 77 million people in the US have become fully vaccinated with Moderna's two-dose shot, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Over 128 million have done so with rival Pfizer's vaccine.

Another competitor entered the US vaccine market last month, when federal regulators authorised a fourth option from Novavax, a protein vaccine that was found in large studies to be about 90 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19.

Shares of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna Inc. jumped more than 15 per cent in morning trading to USD 185.54 while broader indexes climbed slightly.