Moderna slumps 11% as the vaccine-maker's Q1 revenue misses estimates

• Moderna's stock fell 11% at Thursday's market open after missing Q1 analyst estimates.
• Net revenue for the quarter came in at $1.94 billion, compared to an expected $2.04 billion.
• COVID-19 vaccines generated $1.7 billion in revenue for the quarter, the company said.

Moderna fell 11% on Thursday after reporting first-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates.

The therapeutics company reported $1.94 billion in net revenue for the three months ending in March, thanks to strong COVID-19 vaccine sales. That compared to revenue of $8 million for the same period last year, but fell short of the $2.04 billion analysts expected.

Moderna reported earnings available to common shareholders of $2.84 per share, compared to estimates of $2.39 per share. The company counted 102 million COVID-19 vaccine doses as part of its revenue generation, bringing in $1.7 billion in sales.

The biotech firm also announced its vaccine is 96% effective in children aged between 12 and 17. It released preliminary data on Wednesday, which hasn't yet been peer-reviewed, that showed a third booster shot generated a promising immune response against variants first found in South Africa and Brazil.

Moderna's full-year sales forecast for its vaccine was raised to $19.2 billion, up from a prior forecast of $18.4 billion. Rival Pfizer also improved its sales forecast by 73% earlier this week.

"The feedback from governments around the world requesting high-efficacy mRNA vaccines and variant boosters is overwhelming," CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a statement. "We are now actively engaged in discussions and agreements for 2022 with all of the governments we are currently supplying for 2021."

Pharma stocks including Pfizer, Moderna, and BioNTech declined on Wednesday after President Joe Biden's administration announced support for waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines. The move would allow other countries to manufacture vaccines from US pharma companies without fear of sanctions at the World Trade Organization.