Call it the Covid vaccine curse after
BioNTech
became the latest pharmaceutical company after
Pfizer
and
Moderna
to try—and fail—to convince investors that there is life after the jab.
BioNTech revenue declined to €168 million ($184 million), lower than the €692 million projected by analysts on FactSet and well below the €3.2 billion in sales from a year earlier. BioNTech also reported a loss of €0.79 a share for the quarter, narrower than estimates of €0.92. The company said that write-offs by Pfizer “significantly reduced” profit share and hence earnings.
“We enter the second half of 2023 with a strong financial position, on track to launch our new variant-adapted Covid-19 vaccine,” said Jens Holstein, chief financial officer. “The Covid-19 vaccine market remains highly dynamic and difficult to fully predict.”
The market apparently agrees. American depositary receipts of BioNTech (ticker: BNTX) were down 7.2% at $98.80, and have dropped Over the past year, they have dropped more than 40%.
BioNTech is just the latest Covid vaccine winner to fall on hard times. On Thursday, Moderna (MRNA) reported its own loss, which resulted in a downgrade to Market Perform from Outperform at TD Cowen on Friday. Its stock fell 6.5% to $101.20 on Monday. Pfizer (PFE), meanwhile, closed at a new 52-week low this past Thursday, though it has bounced back today with a 1.9% gain to $35.68.
And for good reason. Jefferies analyst Akash Tewari notes that BioNTech’s earnings are a “stark reminder” of what happens if Covid vaccine sales continue to drop. “Until BNTX (and by extension PFE here) get the Covid guidance monkey off its back, this will remain purgatory for most investors,” he writes.
It’s a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately market and investors are still trying to figure out what BioNTech, Pfizer, and Moderna are going to do.
Write to Brian Swint at [email protected]
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