Moderna beats on revenue but loses more than expected as it scales down manufacturing

Moderna on Friday posted fourth-quarter revenue that beat estimates, but lost more than expected for the period, as the biotech company continues to slash costs and demand for its Covid vaccine falls. 

It marks another quarter of growing pains for the company, which is racing to launch new products and recover from the rapid decline of its once-booming Covid business. 

Shares of Moderna fell more than 4% in premarket trading Friday.

Moderna posted a net loss of $1.12 billion, or $2.91 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2024. That compares with net income of $217 million, or 55 cents per share, reported for the year-ago period.

The company said the quarterly loss includes a roughly $238 million noncash charge related to ending a contract manufacturing agreement.

In an interview, Moderna Chief Financial Officer Jamey Mock said one of the most important takeaways from the company's full-year 2024 results is that it reduced costs by 27% compared to 2023. By the end of 2025, Moderna expects to cut costs by $1 billion compared to 2024.

Moderna reiterated its full-year 2025 product sales guidance of $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion, most of which will come in the second half of the year. Moderna expects only $200 million in sales to come in during the first half of the year due to seasonal demand for respiratory products, which typically rises in the fall and winter. 

The company slashed its 2025 sales guidance by roughly $1 billion in January, causing its shares to plummet. The stock is now down more than 20% for the year. 

At the time, Moderna pointed to increased competition in the Covid market, falling vaccination rates, timing around manufacturing contracts with a handful of countries and uncertainty around what advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would recommend for revaccination of respiratory syncytial virus shots. 

"Should those potential headwinds all hit, that's what would bring us to the low end of our guidance," Mock told CNBC, adding that the company is hoping to "combat" the challenges.

Here's what Moderna reported for the fourth quarter that ended Dec. 31 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Moderna posted fourth-quarter sales of $966 million, less than half of the $2.8 billion it recorded during the same period a year ago. 

The vast majority of that total came from its Covid shot, which raked in $923 million, down 66% from the prior year. That includes $244 million in U.S. sales and $679 million from international markets. 

Analysts had expected the jab to pull in $909 million in sales for the quarter, according to estimates compiled by StreetAccount. 

Moderna said the decrease was mainly due to the earlier launch of the newest iteration of its Covid shot last year, which shifted sales into the third quarter. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the new vaccine three weeks earlier than in 2023, allowing Moderna to "meet demand more effectively ahead of the fourth quarter," the company added. 

Covid vaccine sales fell internationally because the company continued to phase out advance purchase agreements with certain countries, according to Moderna. 

The company's fourth-quarter revenue also included $15 million in U.S. sales of its RSV shot, which rolled out to seniors in the fall and winter after winning approval in May. It is Moderna's second approved product after its Covid vaccine. 

Analysts had expected sales of $13 million for the RSV vaccine, according to StreetAccount estimates. Moderna's RSV shot is so far approved for adults age 60 and above in the U.S., European Union, Canada, Norway, Iceland and Qatar, among other countries. 

The company is betting on a pipeline built around its messenger RNA platform, which is the technology used in both of those products. Moderna plans to beef up its portfolio with 10 new product approvals over the next three years. 

During the fourth quarter, Moderna submitted three mRNA products for regulatory approval, including its "next-generation" Covid shot, combination shot targeting Covid and the flu and RSV vaccine for high-risk adults ages 18 to 59. Moderna expects a decision from the FDA on the next-generation Covid shot in May, and a potential expanded approval for the RSV shot in June, according to Mock.

Moderna is also developing a stand-alone flu shot, a personalized cancer vaccine with Merck and shots for latent viruses, among other products. Some of those products will have data readouts later this year, Mock noted.

Cost of sales for the fourth quarter was $739 million, down 20% from the same period a year ago. That includes $193 million in write-downs of unused doses of the Covid vaccine, among other costs. 

Research and development expenses dropped 20% to $1.1 billion compared with the same period in 2023. Moderna said that decline was primarily due to lower clinical development and manufacturing expenses on its Covid, RSV, flu and combination shot programs, and partially offset by increased spending on other new experimental products. 

Meanwhile, selling, general and administrative expenses for the period fell 25% to $351 million compared with the fourth quarter of 2023. SG&A expenses usually include the costs of promoting, selling and delivering a company's products and services.