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BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX) shares tumbled more than 9% Monday after reporting second-quarter earnings before the open.
The drugmaker posted second-quarter earnings of €6.45 per share on revenue of €3.2 billion. Earnings and revenue fell from the second quarter of 2021, where it reported a profit of €10.77 per share on revenue of $5.3 billion.
“With our strong performance year to date, we believe to be well on track to achieve our previous financial guidance for the ongoing financial year,” said Jens Holstein, CFO of BioNTech. “With our initiatives around variant-adapted COVID-19 vaccine candidates, we expect an uptake in demand in our key markets in the fourth quarter of 2022, subject to regulatory approval.”
The company reiterated BioNTech COVID-19 2022 vaccine revenue guidance of between €13 billion and €17 billion.
Following the report, a Morgan Stanley analyst released a research note maintaining an Equal-Weight rating and $194 price target on BioNTech shares. The analyst said vaccine sales were 18% below consensus.
“Total product sales were €3.2B vs. €3.9B consensus (visible alpha). COGS increased to 24% sequentially (up from 20% in 1Q) due to a ~€400M write-off, the transition of manufacturing capacity to variant specific boosters and the consolidation of the CMO network. Mgt. ended 2Q with cash of €9.3B and trade receivables of €10.4B which we expect to turn into cash in the next 1-2 quarters,” said the analyst. “Mgt. reiterated 2022 COVID vaccine revenue guidance of €13-17B (~2.5Bbn doses). Mgt. expects revenue phasing to be more heavily weighted to 4Q vs 3Q as Omicron-adapted boosters begin to ship. Other guidance also remained unchanged.”
He concluded: “BNTX is underperforming today on the vaccine revenue miss, but consensus was likely too high given mgt. had already highlighted changes in the EU order pattern and delays with COVAX. We are leaving our numbers unchanged, but do expect 3Q to be lower than 2Q and 4Q to be more similar to 1Q. Overall, BA.4/5 regulatory approvals, PCV data in 1H23 and potential cash deployment remain the key drivers of BNTX.”
