What happened
Shares of Novavax (NVAX 3.54%) were jumping 3.2% higher as of 11:45 a.m. ET on Tuesday after rising as much as 9.2% earlier in the day. The gain came after the vaccine maker provided its fourth-quarter update following the market close on Monday.
Investors weren't all that concerned with Novavax's fourth-quarter revenue of $222 million and net loss of $846 million. Instead, they were pleased with the company's 2022 revenue guidance of $4 billion to $5 billion.
So what
There were two especially notable points about Novavax's 2022 revenue outlook. First, the company expects to make most of the $4 billion to $5 billion this year from product sales instead of grants. Second, its guidance appears to be quite achievable.
The first point is significant because Novavax's revenue so far has been largely driven by grants. It reported full-year 2021 revenue of $1.1 billion. Funding from grants generated $949 million of that total.
Novavax's 2022 outlook appears to at least be in line with the consensus Wall Street revenue estimate. It's even possible that the company could exceed the upper end of its guidance range. CEO Stanley Erck said in the fourth-quarter conference call that the outlook doesn't hinge on U.S. Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its COVID-19 vaccine Nuvaxovid. If this EUA is secured, revenue could potentially be higher than the current forecast.
Why didn't the vaccine stock move even higher on such good news? It's probably because investors remain uncertain about Novavax's prospects beyond this year.
Image source: Getty Images.
Now what
Novavax's next key catalyst could come with potential U.S. EUA for Nuvaxovid. The company also intends to seek full U.S. approval of its vaccine with a regulatory filing anticipated in the second half of 2022.
