Novavax (NVAX) lowered its forecast for 2022 due to waning demand for Covid vaccines, sending NVAX shares crashing on Tuesday.
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The decision came after a huge disappointment in the second quarter, with sales coming in at less than a fifth of what analysts had expected. Furthermore, Novavax announced an unexpected loss that widened versus the second quarter of last year. Wall Street had been expecting Novavax to post second-straight quarter gains.
early trading stock market todayNVAX stock is down 27.1% near 41.80.
“Novafax has revised the 2022 guidance to take into account several evolving market dynamics,” the company said in a written statement. “We remain confident in our vaccine as a strong additional option. The competitive product profile includes our vaccine (efficacy), well-tolerated safety profiles, robustness of protection, and ability to handle current and future changing strains.”
NVAX Stock: Differentiating Pfizer, Moderna
Novavax relies on protein technology to differentiate itself Pfizer‘s (PFE) And the Moderna‘s (mRNA) messenger-RNA-based Covid snapshots. Novavax is available for adults in 43 countries including the United States and also has a booster dose in three countries.
But investors hit NVAX shares after the second-quarter report. Sales fell nearly 38% to $185.9 million and beat expectations of $1.02 billion. Novavax lost $6.53 per share. Analysts had expected earnings per share of $5.54. Losses also widened from $4.75 in the same period last year.
The company says it is making “tremendous progress” in the third quarter and has already shipped more than 23 million doses since the beginning of July. It is important to note that in the United States the vaccine is only available to adults who have not received any injections of Covid. This represents about 10% of adults.
“While delivery may in some cases be pushed back to 2023, we do not expect to change the total contracted order under the majority of our advance purchase agreements,” Novavax said.
However, the company cut its 2022 forecast in half and now expects sales of between $2 billion and $2.3 billion. That pales in comparison to NVAX stock analysts’ call for $4.27 billion. However, sales will nearly double in the middle of Novavax’s guidance.
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