Can Moderna Buy Its Way Into the $200 Billion Club?
The company needs to put its Covid vaccine windfall to use, but it has outlined an acquisition strategy that won't pay off anytime soon.
Moderna's Covid vaccine revenue has an expiration date. What can it buy to help keep growth going?
Photographer: SOPA Images/LightRocketModerna Inc.'s highly effective Covid vaccine, in addition to protecting millions, is officially a cash cow. The company disclosed during its earnings presentation Aug. 5 that it expects the shot to generate $20 billion in sales this year. Now it has to figure out what to do with its windfall as it tries to justify a market valuation that has surged by more than $100 billion since May. That's a nice problem to have. But it's also an urgent strategic issue.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology firm’s astonishing stock surge has been driven by the success of its vaccine and excitement about its underlying messenger RNA technology, which it is also employing in other shots and treatments in early stages of development. As of now, though, the Covid jab is the company's only approved product, and its finite future sales depend on the very uncertain trajectory of the pandemic and booster shots.