Modern MRNA reported a surprise third-quarter profit on Thursday, driven by cost cuts and higher-than-expected sales of its COVID-19 vaccine, even as revenue from its new respiratory syncytial virus vaccine was weak.
Shares of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company rose nearly 5% to $54.22 in early trading.
Moderna reported a profit of $13 million, or 3 cents per share, for the quarter, compared with a loss of $3.6 billion a year ago. Analysts had expected a loss of $753 million, or $1.90 per share, according to LSEG data.
The company posted sales of $1.8 billion from its Spikevax Covid vaccine, up 3.5 percent year-on-year, beating analysts’ average expectations of $1.38 billion. The company said it benefited from higher sales in the U.S. after its COVID vaccine was brought to market earlier this year.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved updated versions of Spikevax and Pfizer‘s rival vaccine Comirnaty 
PFE and BioNTech 
BNTX almost three weeks earlier (link) than in 2023.
“We delivered more in the first few days and were able to ensure that all health care providers had access to COVID vaccines,” Chief Financial Officer James Mock said in an interview.
However, Moderna still expects to earn less from selling COVID vaccines this year than in 2023 and reiterated its 2024 revenue forecast of $3 billion to $3.5 billion. In 2023, the company had sales of almost $7 billion.
“This guidance appears to be more than achievable based on expected COVID vaccine sales in the fourth quarter,” TD Cowen analyst Tyler Van Buren said in a note.
Mock said during a conference call with investors that Moderna expects total revenue of between $200 million and $500 million next quarter, assuming COVID vaccination rates remain the same or decline 10 percent compared to last year.
He added that the company expects to reach the lower end of that sales range if Moderna’s COVID vaccine market share remains consistent and sales of the RSV shot do not increase.
Sales of Moderna’s new RSV vaccine mRESVIA came in at $10 million, well below the $135 million analysts had expected, according to data compiled by LSEG.
“We were unable to compete in the peak of the contracting season because (mRESVIA) was approved in May,” Mock said. “Many of the contracts had already been completed and customers already had significant inventory.”
Spikevax sales outside the U.S. were lower than the same period in 2023, when they benefited from deferred orders from 2022, Moderna said.
The company said expenses for the quarter were $1.93 billion, down nearly 50 percent from a year earlier, due in part to less idle production capacity and less inventory write-downs.
Moderna is banking on revenue from newer mRNA vaccinations, including mRESVIA and an experimental COVID-flu combination vaccine, to offset slowing demand for COVID products following the pandemic.
Spikevax’s U.S. market share was 40 percent, up from 45 percent in the third quarter of 2023, Moderna said.
Mock said about 7.5 million patients have received Spikevax this year. Nearly 11 million people have received Pfizer’s COVID shot in the same period, according to IQVIA data shared by an analyst.
Moderna confirmed that CEO Stephane Bancel will relinquish his additional role (link) as the company’s chief commercial officer and that President Stephen Hoge will assume responsibility for sales, medical and research affairs.
The company said its executives Jacqueline Miller and Rose Loughlin were promoted to the positions of chief medical officer and executive vice president of research, respectively.
Moderna said it remains on track to receive approval for its combined COVID flu vaccine and RSV vaccination for high-risk adults ages 18 to 59 later this year, as well as its COVID vaccine next year generation to apply.
The company said it plans to expedite FDA applications for its COVID and RSV vaccines using priority review vouchers, but not for the combination vaccine.
