Novavax Q3 2025 Earnings: Revenue Dips as Sanofi Milestone Offsets Falling Product Sales
Novavax's Q3 2025 revenue fell year-over-year to $70 million as it handed commercial control of its COVID vaccine to Sanofi, while the company raised its full-year revenue outlook.
| Q3 2025 | Reported |
|---|---|
| EPS | -$1.25 |
| Revenue | $70.4M |
Figures as reported by the company to the SEC for the quarter ended September 30, 2025. Analyst estimates are not part of a filing, so no comparison to expectations is shown.
Key takeaways
- Total revenue was $70 million, down from $85 million in the same quarter last year. Most of it came from a $48 million milestone payment tied to Novavax’s partnership with Sanofi, rather than from direct vaccine sales, which totaled $13 million.
- The net loss widened to $202 million from $121 million a year earlier, even though spending patterns shifted: research and development costs rose to $98 million from $87 million, while sales and marketing costs fell sharply, to $32 million from $71 million.
- The drop in sales and marketing spending reflects Novavax’s completed transfer of lead commercial responsibility for its Nuvaxovid COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. to Sanofi, meaning Novavax no longer runs its own U.S. sales and marketing operations for the shot.
- Sanofi has said 2025 is a transition year for Nuvaxovid, with a full commercial launch by Sanofi in the U.S. and other markets expected for the 2026-2027 vaccination season.
- Novavax raised its full-year 2025 revenue outlook to a range of $1.04 billion to $1.06 billion, up from its prior range of $1.00 billion to $1.05 billion, citing milestone payments earned from Sanofi.
- Cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities and restricted cash stood at $778 million at quarter-end, down from $938 million at the end of 2024, as the company continues to draw down reserves while awaiting further partner payments.
- Trailing-twelve-month gross margin was a high 84.97%, which mainly reflects that licensing and royalty payments from partners like Sanofi cost little to deliver, rather than showing that overall operations are profitable.
- Trailing-twelve-month operating and net margins were both negative, at roughly -17.9% and -14.7% respectively, underscoring that despite high-margin licensing income, overall spending on research and operations still outpaces revenue.
- The unusually high trailing return on equity figure (283%) is a byproduct of Novavax’s thin shareholder equity base rather than a sign of strong underlying profitability, given the company’s ongoing net losses.
Q3 2025 in context
| Metric | Sep 2025 | Sep 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $70M | $85M | -16.6% |
| Net income | -$202M | -$121M | -66.8% |
| Diluted EPS | -$1.25 | -$0.76 | -64.5% |
| Gross margin | 69.5% | 28.3% | +41.2 pts |
| Operating margin | -252.7% | -158.6% | -94.1 pts |
| Net margin | -287.3% | -143.5% | -143.8 pts |
Figures for the quarter ended Sep 2025 and the quarter ended Sep 2024, as reported to the SEC.
How the stock took it
Novavax Inc closed at $7.69 on Nov 5, 2025, the last session before the report, and at $7.44 on Nov 7, 2025, the first session after it — -3.3% across the report.
Closes from the market's daily record. Each figure spans the report date — from the last session that closed before it to the first that closed after — because a company may report before the open or after the close.
Sources: company report