Moderna, Inc. — FY2020 Form 10-K
Reporting period: Fiscal year ended December 31, 2020. This is an annual filing; it does not provide a clear standalone Q4 financial summary. Moderna is an mRNA biotechnology company whose COVID-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273, received U.S. emergency use authorization in December 2020. The filing was signed February 26, 2021.
Financial performance and position
| Metric | FY2020 | FY2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $803.4 million | $60.2 million |
| Net loss | $747.1 million | $514.0 million |
| Research and development expense | $1.370 billion | $496.3 million |
| Selling, general and administrative expense | $188.3 million | $109.6 million |
| Net cash from (used in) operating activities | $2.027 billion | $(459.0) million |
Revenue comprised $528.9 million of grant revenue, $199.9 million of COVID-19 vaccine sales and $74.6 million of collaboration revenue. Grant revenue rose sharply, primarily from BARDA funding for vaccine development. Moderna remained loss-making, with an accumulated deficit of $2.24 billion. No operating or net profit margin was reported as positive; reported cost of sales was only 4.0% of vaccine sales, but was distorted because much of the vaccine inventory cost had been expensed earlier as R&D.
At year-end, cash, cash equivalents and investments totaled approximately $5.25 billion, including $2.62 billion cash and cash equivalents. Current assets were $6.30 billion and current liabilities $4.39 billion; current liabilities included $3.87 billion of deferred revenue, mostly customer deposits for future vaccine deliveries. Accounts receivable was $1.39 billion. Financing lease liabilities totaled approximately $134.2 million; operating lease liabilities totaled approximately $103.4 million. The company reported no off-balance-sheet arrangements.
Changes versus the prior year
- Revenue increased by $743.2 million, reflecting vaccine sales and a large increase in government grant revenue.
- R&D expense rose 176% to $1.37 billion, driven principally by COVID-19 clinical development, manufacturing scale-up and pre-launch inventory. The company expensed $242.0 million of pre-launch inventory costs in 2020.
- Net loss widened by $233.0 million despite the substantial revenue increase.
- Operating cash flow turned positive, largely because deferred revenue increased by $3.84 billion; it should not be read as evidence of recurring operating profitability.
- Moderna raised $1.85 billion net through two 2020 equity offerings. Shares outstanding at year-end were 398.8 million, up from 336.5 million a year earlier.
Outlook, commentary and risks
As of December 31, 2020, Moderna had committed orders for approximately 520 million COVID-19 vaccine doses for 2021, with contract consideration of about $11.7 billion. It forecast production of 700 million to 1 billion doses in 2021 and was working toward potential supply of up to 1.4 billion doses in 2022. Management expected vaccine sales to increase significantly in 2021, but stated that future revenue and profitability were uncertain. The company expected year-end cash and investments to fund operations for at least 12 months from issuance of the financial statements.
Key risks include manufacturing scale-up, supplier and raw-material constraints, delivery obligations and possible refunds of customer prepayments, vaccine safety and regulatory approval beyond emergency or conditional authorizations, and reduced effectiveness against emerging variants. The filing reported a 6.4-fold reduction in neutralization titers against the B.1.351 variant; the effect on protection remained uncertain. The pandemic also could delay other clinical programs. Moderna reported 24 development programs, 13 in the clinic, and identified its COVID-19 vaccine as its only commercial product at year-end.
Auditors issued an unqualified opinion on the financial statements and internal control over financial reporting. The filing reported no material legal proceedings.
Investor verification priorities
- Track delivered doses, recognized sales and cost of sales as previously expensed, zero-cost inventory is depleted; reconcile these with the $3.8 billion product-related deferred revenue balance.
- Verify execution of 2021 supply commitments, manufacturing output, partner performance and any customer options, cancellations or refund obligations.
- Assess the path from emergency or conditional authorization to full approval, including safety follow-up, variant protection and booster demand.
- Monitor whether operating cash generation persists after customer deposits are converted into deliveries and whether losses and R&D spending remain elevated.
- Review the full financial statements and notes for the composition and timing of deferred revenue, receivables, lease obligations and contractual purchase commitments.