Moderna beat third-quarter revenue and earnings estimates on Friday and raised its full-year sales growth outlook. The company now expects 2026 revenue growth of 15% to 25%, up from its previous guidance of up to 10%. Shares rose roughly 3% in premarket trading.
Third-quarter revenue jumped 29% to $1.31 billion, according to the company. Revenue was $780 million in the U.S. and $533 million in international markets. Higher Covid vaccine sales abroad and deliveries under long-term government partnerships helped drive the increase. Moderna posted net income of $162 million, or 38 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $200 million, or 51 cents per share, a year earlier.
CEO Stéphane Bancel credited newer products and geographic expansion. He said the company is seeing the "full-year impact" of its next-generation mRNA Covid vaccine, which won U.S. approval in May 2025. He said the stand-alone flu shot, approved in the U.S. in August, will have a "limited launch" in the country in 2026. Bancel also said expansion in Canada, the U.K. and Asia helped results, and that cost-cutting produced a profit in the quarter. "It's the sales that are stronger and the costs that are also lower," he said.
Bancel also addressed the company's personalized cancer vaccine, developed with Merck and tested in combination with Keytruda in certain melanoma patients. Investors sold Moderna shares after part of the late-stage data leaked on social media days before trial investigators were to present it at a European medical conference. Bancel called the reaction "surprising." He said doctors in the field "were so impressed with the data" and many said they hope to use it in practice.
Moderna's stock has risen more than 700% this year, according to the report.