Healthcare Champions Kick Off 2024

Surprisingly, it is not Big Tech that kicked off 2024 but healtchare champions. Moderna Inc MRNA shares rose after Oppenheimer upgraded the stock due to the Covid-19 vaccine star possibly marketing as many as five products by 2026. Merck & CO Inc MRK shares also rose 7.3% this year so far with the pharma giant announcing it is kicking off its phase 3 trial for four of its investigational candidates from its diverse and promising hematology and oncology pipeline.

2023 Was A Dismal For Moderna, But Don’t Dismiss The Covid-19 Star Just Yet

During 2023, Moderna had only one commercially available product- the Covid-19 shot, in a post-Covid era. But Moderna is working on its pipeline, with potential product launches over the next 12 to 18 months promising to turn things around in 2025. Along with its experimental vaccine that aims to protect older adults from respiratory syncytial virus and another experimental flu vaccine that could also win approval this year or in 2025, Moderna is developing a personalized cancer vaccine. Moreover, it is currently testing its cancer vaccine in combination with the blockbuster immunotherapy Keytruda that Merck developed. Early clinical trial results of this treatment duo against melanoma are quite encouraging, showing that this combined treatment significantly reduced the risks of recurrence, metastasis and death compared to the existing treatment or Keytruda alone. Moderna also reiterated its plan to launch up to 15 products over the next half of a decade.

Walgreens Reported Its Financials Improved But It Still Has Work To Do

On Thursday, the drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance WBA reported its fiscal first quarter results that topped expectations, but its stock tanked due its decision to almost halve its quarterly dividend in an effort to strengthen its cash position and long-term balance sheet. In its first dividend cut in almost five decades, Walgreens slashed its dividend from 48 cents per share to 25 cents per share as the new CEO, a healthcare industry veteran, Tim Wentworth makes its attempt of pulling the retail pharmacy chain out of a rough spot as the company’s shares plummeted 30% last year. With the latest earnings, Walgreens did make a turnaround as back in October, it missed earnings estimates for two consecutive quarters for the first time in almost a decade.

For the quarter ended on November 30th, Walgreens reported revenue of $36.71 billion, topping LSEG’s estimate of $34.86 billion, as well as a net loss of $67 million, or 8 cents per share. Walgreens did improve its bottom-line YoY as for last year’s comparable quarter, it reported a net loss of $3.7 billion, or $4.31 per share, due to having to pay a multibillion-dollar settlement for playing a part in fueling the nation’s opioid crisis. Adjusted earnings amounted to 66 cents per share, topping LSEG’s estimate of 61 cents. Despite this quarter’s beats, Walgreens reiterated its fiscal 2024 adjusted earnings guidance range from $3.20 to $3.50 per share. With its undergoing cost-cutting initiatives, Walgreens is on track to save $1 billion in costs during fiscal 2024.

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