Moderna earnings: third quarter 2026

Moderna's sales rose 29% from a year earlier in the third quarter of 2026, to $1.3 billion, mostly from COVID vaccine sales outside the U.S. Together with lower research spending, that turned the quarter into a profit. The company sharply raised its sales forecast for the year. But the year so far is still a large loss, and its bigger cash pile rests on about $3.0 billion of new borrowing. ¹

Against what analysts expected

Analysts had expected Moderna to lose $1.10 per share in the quarter, on average across seven forecasts collected by Nasdaq. ¹²

The strong points

• Sales rose 29% from a year ago to $1.3 billion, driven mostly by COVID vaccine sales outside the U.S. ¹
• Research and development spending fell to $583 million in the quarter, from $801 million a year earlier. ¹

The weak points

• Despite the profitable quarter, Moderna is still about $2.0 billion in the red over the first nine months of the year. ¹
• Running the business used $2.7 billion of cash over nine months, barely less than a year earlier. ¹
• What Moderna owes has risen by about four-fifths since December, mainly because of the new convertible notes it sold in September. ¹

What the company expects

• Moderna raised its forecast for 2026 sales growth to 15% to 25%, from up to 10% a quarter ago. ¹
• It now expects to end the year with about $8.1 billion to $8.3 billion in cash and investments, up from the $4.7 billion to $5.2 billion it forecast before. ¹

Our verdict on the quarter

A very strong report. Moderna sharply raised its sales forecast for the year and grew sales 29% to a profitable quarter, which outweighs the fact that the year is still a loss and its extra cash is borrowed.

The results as published

• The results release itself
• The filing it came with (SEC)
• The previous results, for what it forecast then

Notes

1. Moderna's results release, 6 November 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 6 November 2026. ↩