NVAX Stock Shrugs Off Slow Covid Vaccine Sales, Guidance

Novavax‘s (NVAX) highly anticipated Covid vaccine lagged sales expectations in its first quarter on the market, but NVAX stock turned around early losses Tuesday.

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The vaccine won its first authorization in Indonesia on Nov. 1. Since then, the company has launched its two-shot inoculation to a number of countries abroad. But for the fourth quarter, Novavax posted $222.2 million in revenue, far below estimates for $331.8 million, according to FactSet.

Revenue fell roughly 21% year over year. The lion’s share of revenue stemmed from royalties. Partner companies sell Novavax’s vaccine in South Korea and Indonesia, and pay Novavax a royalty. The shot is also now shipping to Australia and the European Union.

In morning trading on today’s stock market, NVAX stock popped 6.3% near 88.60. That reversed an early 5.2% dive.

NVAX Stock Pops Despite Sales Miss

The biotech company also reported wider-than-expected losses for the quarter. Per-share losses were $11.18, vs. NVAX stock analysts’ projection for a loss of $1.80 per share.

For the year, Novavax predicts total revenue of $4 billion to $5 billion. The midpoint of the outlook came short of analysts’ more bullish forecast for $4.92 billion. NVAX stock analysts expect the Covid vaccine to generate $4.6 billion of that.

But NVAX stock shrugged off the earnings and forecast disappointment on Tuesday. Shares rose to a month-high in early action.

Next up, investors are watching for updates on Novavax’s omicron-specific vaccine. Novavax is now ramping manufacturing with expectations to deliver shots toward the end of the first quarter.

Officials in the U.S. are also considering the Covid shot, which would provide another alternative to the messenger RNA vaccines from Pfizer (PFE) and Moderna (MRNA). NVAX stock has struggled recently, though, amid the omicron wave.

Follow Allison Gatlin on Twitter at @IBD_AGatlin.

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