NVAX Stock: Biotech Firestorm Takes Down Novavax Despite Quadrupled Sales

Novavax (NVAX) posted an unexpected third-quarter loss, and NVAX stock yo-yoed Wednesday despite better-than-expected sales.

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During the September quarter, Novavax lost $2.15 per share, narrowing from a year-earlier loss of $4.31 a share. But analysts had projected a per-share gain of $1.57. Still, shares surged on Novavax’s sales, which more than quadrupled year over year to $735 million. That handily beat forecasts for $586 million.

The sales beat didn’t extend to Novavax’s full-year outlook, however. The company expects sales to come in at the low end of its outlook for $2 billion to $2.3 billion. Notably, on Wednesday, officials in the U.K. signed off on the Novavax booster for adults.

Achieving that depends on demand for its Covid vaccine. Novavax is coming from behind, though noted it has delivered more than 94 million doses of its Covid shot, to date. Today, the vaccine is available to children as young as 12 in the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration first signed off on the protein-based vaccine in July. To date, fewer than 44,000 people have received it.

A boost in demand could stoke NVAX stock. On today’s stock market, Novavax stock skidded 5.2% to 18.63, reversing an earlier climb.

NVAX Stock: Rivaling Updated Boosters

In addition to receiving authorization for its original Covid vaccine, Novavax’s booster also gained the FDA’s blessing in October. But the booster shot is only available to people who haven’t gotten another booster from Pfizer (PFE), Moderna (MRNA) or Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

This is where it’s important to note, Pfizer and Moderna have launched updated Covid boosters that target the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of omicron. In the U.S., the latter remains narrowly dominant, leading the newer BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 strains.

Novavax’s booster is a third dose of the original vaccine, which targets the virus’ ancestral strain. This is a bearish point for NVAX stock. In this month’s IBD/TIPP Poll, less than a third of respondents said they would seek the Novavax booster. Another 42% said they wouldn’t, while 19% aren’t eligible.

The company also is working on a prototype booster shot that induced immune responses against the original strain, as well as the BA.1 and BA.5 sub-variants. The BA.1 strain is no longer circulating in the U.S., however.

Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.

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