BioNTech SE shares declined in premarket trading following a downgrade from BMO Capital Markets. The analyst firm lowered its rating from Outperform to Market Perform and reduced its price target to $105 from $128, citing weakened global demand for COVID-19 vaccines and ongoing inventory reductions in Germany as primary factors influencing the revised assessment.
The downgrade action arrived in the wake of clinical developments announced in late August. BioNTech and Roche’s Genentech unit terminated a Phase 2 trial of autogene cevumeran, the company’s personalized messenger RNA cancer vaccine candidate, in resected colorectal cancer after the study met a futility threshold. Despite this setback, BioNTech maintains a broader oncology development pipeline encompassing 14 pivotal trials.
The company also reduced its full-year revenue guidance, now projecting between €1.6 billion and €1.9 billion compared with its earlier forecast of €2.0 billion to €2.3 billion. BMO’s longer-term estimate for steady-state Comirnaty revenue sits below the wider analyst consensus. Following the guidance reduction, analysts across the market adjusted their consensus revenue forecasts and loss-per-share estimates downward.
At the premarket price, shares were trading below BMO’s revised target. The broader market environment also weighed on sentiment, with the S&P 500 down 0.3% and the Nasdaq down 0.1% during the same period. Market participants were assessing the implications of the reduced revenue outlook alongside developments in the company’s oncology pipeline and shifting dynamics in its COVID vaccine business.
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