Moderna’s third-quarter revenue jumped 29% to $1.31 billion as stronger international Covid vaccine sales and newer products helped the biotech company beat expectations and raise its forecast for full-year growth.
The company now expects revenue to increase by between 15% and 25% in 2026, compared with its previous guidance of growth of up to 10%. Its shares rose by about 3% in pre-market trading.
Moderna reported net income of $162 million, or 38 cents a share, for the three months to the end of September. That compared with a loss of $200 million, or 51 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier.
Analysts had expected a loss of $1.25 a share and revenue of $885.1 million. Moderna generated $780 million in the US and $533 million from international markets.
Moderna points to international growth and newer products
Chief executive Stéphane Bancel said the company’s performance reflected the effect of newer products, wider geographic coverage and lower costs.
“The new product and the diversification of geography is what has led to such a strong Q3,” Mr Bancel said in an interview before the results were released.
He said Moderna was now seeing the full-year impact of its next-generation mRNA Covid vaccine, which received US approval in May 2025. Covid vaccine contracts are generally established in the first quarter, he said, meaning the product had only a small launch in its first year.
Moderna’s stand-alone flu vaccine, approved in the US in August, is also expected to have a limited launch in the country in 2026 because of the timing of its approval.
Mr Bancel said expansion in Canada, the UK and Asia had supported the results, while efforts to reduce costs had helped the company return to profit.
“It’s the sales that are stronger and the costs that are also lower,” he said.
Personalised cancer vaccine remains in focus
The results follow the release of promising late-stage data from Moderna and Merck on a personalised cancer vaccine used alongside Keytruda in certain melanoma patients.
Moderna’s shares fell after some of the data was leaked on social media shortly before trial investigators were due to present it at a European medical conference. Mr Bancel described the market reaction as “surprising”, but said long-term investors and analysts had responded positively after examining the full findings.
He added that doctors in the field had been impressed by the data and had expressed interest in using the treatment in everyday practice. Moderna’s shares have risen by more than 700% this year, driven largely by optimism over the vaccine’s potential.
