Moderna slumps ~12% after fall in sales of COVID vaccines leads to big Q3 miss
Maddie Meyer

Shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) slid 11.8% to $131.11 in Thursday premarket trading, after the U.S. vaccine maker reported a big miss on both Q3 profit and revenue due to a decline in sales of its COVID-19 vaccines.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech posted Q3 GAAP EPS of $2.53 which missed estimates by $0.66. Revenue fell 32.4% Y/Y to $3.36B, which also missed expectations by $170M.
MRNA's product sales for Q3 slumped 35% Y/Y, which the company primarily attributed to lower sales volume due to the timing of market authorizations for its COVID-19 bivalent boosters and the related manufacturing ramp up.
Demand for COVID-19 vaccines has been waning in the U.S. and Europe as coronavirus cases and deaths have fallen.
MRNA and other rival vaccine makers also rolled out updated bivalent boosters targeting the Omicron BA.4/5 subvariants for a fall and winter immunization campaign, but the uptake of the adjusted shots has been weak. 
Moderna (MRNA) said its Q3 cost of sales as a percentage of product sales was 35%, an increase of 20 percentage points from Q3 last year.
The vaccine maker took a charge of $333M for inventory write-downs related to COVID-19 products "that have exceeded or are expected to exceed their approved shelf-lives prior to being used."
MRNA's quarterly profit was also hurt by a 55.8% Y/Y jump in total operating expenses, driven by increased clinical-trial related costs, clinical development activities and a higher headcount. 
The company expects revenue from advance purchase agreements (APAs) for product sales for anticipated delivery in 2022 to be $18B-$19B, reflecting deferrals of $2B-$3B to 2023.
Confirmed APAs, as well as previously deferred product sales, currently represent $4.5B-$5.5B in anticipated product sales in 2023.
Up to its last closing price, Moderna (MRNA) stock has fallen 41.5% YTD.