BioNTech beats on earnings despite waning COVID vaccine demand

Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani joins the Live show to discuss third-quarter earnings for BioNTech and news that the biotechnology company is raising the lower end of its full-year outlook for 2022.

Video Transcript

- Welcome back. The opening bell is just a few minutes away. But first, let's hit some hot tickers on the Yahoo Finance platform, and we're starting with BioNTech.

Shares in focus despite topping estimates-- or the stock is down despite topping estimates as third quarter revenue fell sharply from the prior year, coming in at roughly $3 billion compared to the approximately $6 billion from last year. Our health care-- our senior health care reporter Anjalee Khemlani is here with the details. Anjalee.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: That's right, Brian. What you're seeing is not unexpected. As we know, the demand for COVID vaccines has waned, and that is the only product that BioNTech has on the market.

You heard me talk about this before with Moderna. We're seeing a similar pressure on BioNTech despite the fact that it has a relationship with Pfizer. And that is what is keeping it afloat.

We know that raise in the outlook for the year to $16 billion is a little bit based on that increase in demand for the bivalent shots. We saw Pfizer also raised its guidance for the year by about $2 billion on the same news. So that's where that raise comes from.

We also know that they have a couple of things in the pipeline, but like I said, because it is the only product so far, a little bit of a question mark on whether or not they can really make good on that platform. They've got a few readouts or, rather, updates on clinical trials and cancer vaccines and candidates for next year as well as some other infectious disease areas that they're looking into that would start clinical trials next year. So a lot of next year on the books and in the outlook right now for where they're looking. And we also know that they have a little bit of good news with new orders coming in for the COVID vaccine but also possibly tapping into that Chinese market for foreigners having access to the BioNTech Pfizer vaccine as opposed to the domestic Chinese, which we have had some mixed reviews on efficacy. So that's the full picture for BioNTech right now.

- So, two key takeaways that I'm getting from what you just mentioned. One, and one of them, perhaps, should have been expected, is that we are seeing some of the year over year comps come in extremely light, at least on the vaccine front and the vaccination front, as we're starting that-- starting to see that contract a little bit more because the big wave, of course, was 2021 for that. But then additionally, all focus on research and development and the costs going back into figuring out other types of solutions for populations around the world.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: As well as some of those trials that have already begun or some candidates that are already in the pipeline and getting more-- getting progress on those, basically.

- All right, Yahoo Finance's own Anjalee Khemlani. Thanks so much for breaking that down for us this morning.