By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) stock gained 8% in premarket trading Wednesday after the company beat fourth-quarter estimates and promised to channel its surging cash flows from its life-saving Covid-19 vaccines into the research of similar therapies for oncology and other infectious diseases.
A special dividend of 2 euros per share and a likely buyback of up to $1.5 billion worth of shares were also adding to the gains in the stock. The company expects to authorize the share repurchase plan that will be executed over two years.
The company expects its Covid-19 vaccines to generate sales of anywhere between 13 billion euros and 17 billion euros. That will be less than the 19 billion euros the company booked in 2021 and indicates a slight softening of demand with much of the world’s population vaccinated with at least one dose. The virus is also expected to weaken with most of the world having had at least two surges since 2020.
Revenue in the final quarter was 16 times higher at 5.53 billion euros, riding on the unique mRNA technology in the company's vaccines that saved millions of lives the world over. Under collaboration agreements, territories have been allocated amongst BioNTech, Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), and Fosun Pharma (HK:2196) based on marketing and distribution rights. Gross profits are shared between the companies.
As of mid-March, BioNTech and Pfizer have signed orders for nearly 2.4 billion doses in 2022, the former said in a release. As of the beginning of this month, they have so far delivered more than 3.1 billion doses of BNT162b2 to more than 170 countries.
Net profit in the quarter was 3.16 billion euros.
The company said it is developing the next generation of Covid-19 vaccines while fully leveraging the potential of all technology platforms across autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and regenerative medicines.