With sales of COVID-19 vaccines higher than expected, the balance of the Moderna pharmaceutical laboratory exceeded Wall Street forecasts in the second quarter.
The company said its Spikevax vaccine brought in $4.53 billion during the quarter. Analysts had forecast $3.6 billion, according to FactSet.
Shares of Moderna rose on Wednesday after the company announced a $3 billion buyback plan.
Moderna’s vaccine sales fell from the nearly $6 billion raised in the first quarter of the year, as a wave of virus infections in the United States prompted more people to get immunized.
Sales could pick up again in the coming months.
Moderna has developed an updated version of its vaccine for a summer booster campaign that combines the original vaccine with protection against the omicron variant.
The company announced last week that it had reached an agreement with the US government for an initial purchase of 66 million booster doses for up to $1.74 billion. The government has an option to buy more doses.
The COVID-19 vaccine is Moderna’s main source of revenue, excluding grants and collaboration money. Total revenue in the second quarter increased 9% to $4.75 billion.
But operating expenses rose 78% to $2.3 billion for the vaccine maker, which has several products in late-stage clinical trials, the most expensive phase of research.
