Novavax labs in Gaithersburg, Maryland
AFP via Getty Images
Novavax reported its first profitable quarter but shares of the vaccine maker were tanking Tuesday as earnings came in under Wall Street expectations.
Shares of Novavax (ticker: NVAX) fell more than 20% to $42.50 in premarket trading after the company’s first-quarter earnings of $2.56 a share missed Wall Street forecasts of $2.69. A year earlier, Novavax reported a loss of $3.05.
Revenue in the quarter of $704 million badly missed analysts’ estimates of $845.2 million.
The company said selling, general and administrative expenses were $96 million in the first quarter, higher than the year-earlier’s $63 million. Costs rose, the company said, from support for the commercial launch of its Covid vaccine candidate NVX-CoV2373. The Food and Drug Administration announced it would meet on June 7 to consider the vaccine. The vaccine has been authorized in some other countries.
Looking ahead to the second quarter, Novavax said in a conference call with analysts that it expect shipments to key markets to increase, and anticipates increased product revenue.
It also noted, however, that it continues to see low vaccination rates across low-income countries, adding that it was prepared to deliver doses of its Covid vaccine to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, but to date hasn’t “yet received an order from Gavi and the timing and quantities of future orders to deliver NVX-CoV2373 to the Covax facility are unclear.”
Novavax reiterated that it expects revenue in 2022 of between $4 and $5 billion.
Write to Joe Woelfel at [email protected]
