BioNTech (BNTX -0.45%) is on a roll. The company, along with its big partner Pfizer (PFE -0.19%), has reported a plethora of positive news in recent months for their COVID-19 vaccine, BNT162b2. And now BioNTech has more good news to add.
The German drugmaker announced its first-quarter results before the market opened on Monday. Investors liked what they heard, and the biotech stock jumped 9% in pre-market trading. Here are the highlights from BioNTech's Q1 update.
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By the numbers
BioNTech reported revenue in the first quarter of 2.05 billion euros, up nearly 7,300% from revenue of 27.7 million euros in the prior-year period. This result topped analysts' average estimate of $1.8 billion, or close to 1.5 billion euros.
The company announced Q1 net income of 1.1 billion euros, or 4.39 euros per share. In the prior-year period, BioNTech posted a net loss of 53.4 million euros, or 0.24 euros per share. Analysts' consensus estimate projected Q1 earnings of $3.76 per share, or roughly 3.10 euros.
BioNTech ended the first quarter with cash and cash equivalents of 891.5 million euros. The biotech had a cash position totaling 1.2 billion euros as of Dec. 31, 2020.
Behind the numbers
There's no surprise as to the driver behind BioNTech's impressive sales growth in the first quarter. As of May 6, 2021, more than 450 million doses of the company's COVID-19 vaccine had been delivered to 91 countries or territories. A significant portion of this amount was shipped in Q1.
BioNTech recorded over 1.75 billion euros from its share of gross profit from Pfizer's sales of BNT162b2 plus sales milestone payments. It generated 199.8 million euros in sales to customers in territories not included in its agreement with Pfizer. The company also had 63.9 million euros in sales to collaboration partners.
With that kind of revenue growth, BioNTech had no problem generating a huge profit. The company's research and development costs more than tripled year over year to 216.2 million euros. Its general and administrative expenses more than doubled to 38.9 million euros. This higher spending, though, paled in comparison to the massive sales growth for BNT162b2.
Looking ahead
BioNTech should have plenty of more good news on the way. It and Pfizer already have supply deals for around 1.8 billion doses of BNT162b2 this year. They've signed the first deals for next year and beyond. The most important of these so far is an agreement with the European Union to supply at least 900 million doses through 2023.
But BioNTech is more than a one-trick pony. CEO Ugur Sahin stated, "We are moving into later stage testing for three of our oncology programs in the near future and plan to launch multiple new products over the next five years."
The biotech expects to report at least four updates from ongoing clinical studies later this year. These include results from a phase 1/2a study evaluating experimental cancer immunotherapy BNT312/GEN1042 and another phase 1/2a study of cell therapy BNT211 and RNA vaccine CARVac.
