Moderna shares fall after company cuts 2021 forecast for Covid vaccine sales

Moderna’s sign is seen outside of their headquarters in Cambridge, MA on March 11, 2021.

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Moderna shares fell by more than 11% on Thursday after it cut its Covid-19 vaccine sales forecast for the year and missed earnings and revenue expectations for the third quarter.

The company said some doses for delivery this year have been shifted to early 2022 as it prioritizes deliveries to low-income countries through COVAX, the U.N.-backed effort to share coronavirus vaccines. It now expects Covid vaccine sales of between $15 billion and $18 billion from $20 billion this year.

In releasing its third-quarter earnings, Moderna said it is now expecting to deliver between 700 million and 800 million doses this year, down from its previous expectations of between 800 million and 1 billion doses. The company also said it expects sales of $17 billion to $22 billion in 2022.

By comparison, Pfizer has said it expects Covid vaccine sales of $36 billion this year and $29 billion in 2022.

Here’s how Moderna did compared with what Wall Street expected, according to average estimates compiled by Refinitiv: