What happened
After a spike in price following the release of its latest earnings, BioNTech (BNTX 0.55%) fell below the waterline on Tuesday. In mid-afternoon action, the bellwether coronavirus stock was trading nearly 6% below the previous day's close.
So what
In a combined earnings release and corporate update, BioNTech revealed that it earned just under 6.09 billion euros ($7.05 billion), a giant leap above the less than 68 million euros ($79 million) of the same quarter last year. The reason, it nearly goes without saying by now, is sales of the Comirnaty coronavirus vaccine it developed in partnership with U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
Image source: Getty Images.
On the bottom line, BioNTech flipped to a profit. It netted slightly over 3.2 billion euros ($3.7 billion), or 12.35 euros ($14.29) per share, in the quarter. In Q3 2020 the company lost 210 million euros ($243 million).
Both headline figures beat analyst expectations. On average, prognosticators tracking BioNTech stock were expecting only 5.1 billion euros ($5.9 billion) in revenue and a per-share net profit of 10.54 euros ($12.20).
BioNTech is benefiting greatly from Comirnaty's position as the go-to coronavirus vaccine in many jurisdictions. This includes the U.S. where so far it is the only jab to win full approval from the FDA (two others are being distributed under Emergency Use Authorizations).
Now what
BioNTech is a biotech that has ambitions far outside of the coronavirus. It's particularly interested in attacking cancer. In the corporate update part of its press release, it said that it currently has 15 oncology products in its pipeline in early-to-middle stages of clinical development.
Given the convincing top- and bottom-line beats, it's a bit counterintuitive that investors would sell off BioNTech stock. Then again, it has rocketed nearly 200% higher this year alone despite several notable pullbacks, so perhaps on Tuesday it was a victim of vastly outsized expectations.
