Moderna climbs as 4th-quarter sales blow past expectations and 2021 forecasts surge

• Shares of Moderna soared as high as 10% on Thursday after it revealed fourth-quarter sales more than double Wall Street estimates.
• The company also revealed a forecast of $18.4 billion in Covid-19 vaccine sales for 2021.
• Moderna reported a loss of $0.69 a share on sales of $570.7 million, double the $.034 a share on sales of $279.4 million that $4expected.
• $4

Shares of Moderna soared as high as 10% on Thursday after the biotech company revealed fourth-quarter sales that were more than double Wall Street estimates. The company also revealed a forecast of $18.4 billion in Covid-19 vaccine sales for 2021. Shares of the drugmaker pared earlier gains to close at $148.38, up about 2.5%.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company reported a loss of $0.69 a share on sales of $570.7 million, double the $0.34 a share on sales of $279.4 million that $4 expected.

In the same period last year, Moderna lost 37 cents a share and on revenue of $14.1 million.

The drugmaker in the earnings call also announced the September departure of Tal Zaks, its chief medical officer. The company however said it is retaining Russell Reynolds to find a replacement for Zaks "with global and commercial experience."

"Moderna has been changed in a profound way," CEO Stephane Bancel said. "Tal joined us when we were a clinical company, and now we have our own authorized product."

Moderna on Wednesday said it was $4, raising it from its earlier $4, and will attempt to ramp up production to reach as much as 1 billion doses.

In December 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration $4. It is one of the two authorized in the country.

Moderna also received emergency authorization for use of its vaccine in Canada, Israel, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Singapore, and Qatar.