Moderna Q3 Revenues Beat Estimates, Inks Coronavirus Vaccine Supply Deal With Japan

Coronavirus vaccine developer Moderna Inc MRNA reported forecast-beating third-quarter revenues and a vaccine supply contract, sending shares higher.

Moderna's Q3 Results: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna reported third-quarter revenues of $157.91 million, notably higher than the year-ago revenues of $17.05 million. The topline also exceeded the consensus forecast of $77.51 million.

With no commercial product yet on the market, the revenues comprised $145.69 million in grant revenue and $12.22 million in collaboration revenues.

A 188% year-over-year increase in R&D expenses and a 72% jump in G&A expenses led to a wider loss of 59 cents per share compared to the loss of 37 cents per share in the third quarter of 2019.

Analysts, on average, had expected a loss of 43 cents per share.

The company boasted $3.97 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investments at the end of the September quarter.

Moderna updated its 2020 guidance for net cash used in operating activities and for purchases of property and equipment to $0.1 billion-$0.3 billion.

"The Moderna team continued to execute on our plan in the third quarter," said CEO Stéphane Bancel.

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Moderna's COVID-19 Vaccine Program: Delving on the coronavirus vaccine program, Moderna said it's actively preparing for the launch of mRNA-1273 and has signed a number of supply agreements with governments around the world.

"I believe that if we launch our COVID-19 vaccine, 2021 could be the most important inflection year in Moderna's history. We will have the resources to scale Moderna to maximize the impact we can have on patients in the next 10 years through numerous new medicines," Bancel said.

Moderna's Vaccine Supply Deal: Separately, Moderna confirmed the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan and Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd TAK have agreed to purchase and distribute 50 million doses of mRNA-1273, subject to necessary regulatory approvals.

Moderna will manufacture and supply the vaccine candidate, and Takeda along with the Japanese government and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development will assume responsibility for all import, local regulatory, development and distribution activities in Japan to ensure timely access starting during the first half of 2021.

The vaccine candidate is currently being evaluated in a 30,000-strong Phase 3 study.

"We look forward to our expected first review of our interim efficacy data, which is expected in November," Bancel said.

After Wednesday's nearly 7% pullback along with the broader market, Moderna's shares are advancing 4.5% to $68.70 on Thursday.