Company Reports

Despite CureVac’s emerging stage, the company is making progress across its early-stage mRNA pipeline and it announced plans to reduce costs to extend its cash runway. CureVac’s reorganization plan includes a program for employees to voluntarily leave the company, aiming to cut 150 positions. We maintain CureVac’s fair value estimate of $15.40 per share and view the stock as undervalued for long-term investors with a very high degree of risk tolerance. We see significant uncertainty related to regulatory approvals for CureVac’s early-stage pipeline and lack of approved products, so the company warrants a no moat rating and Extreme Morningstar Uncertainty Rating.

CureVac was founded in 2000, and its focus is on developing vaccines and therapies using messenger ribonucleic acid, or mRNA. mRNA offers several advantages, including cell-free, rapid, large-scale manufacturing and the ability to substitute new genetic sequences to create novel vaccines. Vaccines are typically composed of weakened viruses or proteins (antigens) that they express. In mRNA vaccines, the genetic code for an antigen is administered to patients who then manufacture the antigen themselves, which triggers an immune response.

CureVac was founded in 2000, and its focus is on developing vaccines and therapies using messenger ribonucleic acid, or mRNA. mRNA offers several advantages, including cell-free, rapid, large-scale manufacturing and the ability to substitute new genetic sequences to create novel vaccines. Vaccines are typically composed of weakened viruses or proteins (antigens) that they express. In mRNA vaccines, the genetic code for an antigen is administered to patients who then manufacture the antigen themselves, which triggers an immune response.

A German court invalidated one of CureVac’s patents that was part of the company’s ongoing fight with BioNTech over the mRNA technology used in its COVID-19 vaccines. The court’s decision sent CureVac’s shares down 30% as some investors were hopeful CureVac could receive a share of BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine revenue. In our valuation model, we had not anticipated that CureVac would receive any royalty revenue from BioNTech, so the court’s decision has no impact on our fair value estimate. We maintain CureVac’s fair value estimate of $15.40 per share, no-moat rating, and Extreme Morningstar Uncertainty Rating. We view the stock as undervalued for long-term investors with a very high degree of risk tolerance.

CureVac reported its third-quarter results, and the company is continuing to make progress across its early-stage mRNA pipeline. CureVac reported quarterly revenue of EUR 16.5 million, which is up from EUR 11.2 million in the prior-year period. We maintain CureVac's fair value estimate of $15.40 per share, no moat rating, and Extreme uncertainty rating. We view the stock as undervalued for long-term investors with a very high degree of risk tolerance. Shares are trading at a 64% discount to our fair value estimate on a risk-adjusted basis.

CureVac reported its second-quarter results, and it is continuing to make progress across its early-stage mRNA pipeline. The company reported quarterly revenue of EUR 7.6 million, primarily driven by revenue from its GSK collaboration agreement. We maintain CureVac’s fair value estimate of $15.40 per share, no-moat rating, and extreme uncertainty rating. The stock is trading at an attractive discount to our fair value estimate for long-term investors with a high degree of risk tolerance.

CureVac is making progress across its early-stage mRNA pipeline. The company reported first-quarter revenue of EUR 7.1 million, of which revenue from its GSK collaboration agreement accounted for EUR 6.5 million. We maintain CureVac's fair value estimate of $15.40 per share, a no-moat rating, stable moat trend, and Extreme Morningstar Uncertainty Rating. The stock is trading at an attractive discount to our fair value estimate for long-term investors.

CureVac is continuing to make progress across its early-stage mRNA pipeline candidates. The company reported total 2022 revenue of EUR 67.4 million, which was primarily attributed to milestone payments and revenue from its collaboration agreement with GSK. We maintain CureVac’s fair value estimate of $15.40 per share, no-moat rating, stable moat trend, and Extreme Uncertainty Rating. The stock is trading at an attractive discount to our fair value estimate for long-term investors.

CureVac is continuing to make progress on its mRNA pipeline candidates. The company reported positive extended preliminary data from its ongoing Phase 1 clinical programs in COVID-19 and seasonal flu, which are in collaboration with wide-moat GSK. In COVID-19, the monovalent modified mRNA construct, CV0501, successfully boosted antibody titers against BA.1 and ancestral variants in adults aged 65 and above. In flu, the monovalent modified mRNA construct, Flu-SV-mRNA, elicited antibodies approximately 2.3 times those of the licensed vaccine comparator in adults aged 60-80 years. This data is encouraging, and CureVac and GSK are continuing to advance these mRNA candidates to the next stages of clinical development. We maintain our $15.40 per share fair value estimate, no-moat rating, stable moat trend, and Extreme Uncertainty Rating for this clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. CureVac's stock is trading at an attractive entry point (in 4-star territory) for long-term investors.

CureVac was founded in 2000, and its focus is on developing vaccines and therapies using messenger ribonucleic acid, or mRNA. mRNA offers several advantages, including cell-free, rapid, large-scale manufacturing and the ability to substitute new genetic sequences to create novel vaccines. Vaccines are typically composed of weakened viruses or proteins (antigens) that they express. In mRNA vaccines, the genetic code for an antigen is administered to patients who then manufacture the antigen themselves, which triggers an immune response.

CureVac is focused on expanding its mRNA pipeline candidates, and preliminary data from its phase 1 study of oncology candidate CV8102 demonstrates a positive safety profile and promising results showing CV8102’s ability to mobilize the immune system against tumors. Five out of 30 patients experienced a partial response to CV8102, and responses appeared durable for up to one year from the start of treatment. We assign CV8102 a 10% probability of approval in our base case; if approved, we forecast it could reach the market as early as 2025.

CureVac is working to expand its pipeline by furthering its cancer vaccine capabilities. CureVac acquired Amsterdam-based Frame Cancer Therapeutics for EUR 32 million. Frame Cancer Therapeutics is a private company focused on identifying neoantigens across different cancer types. CureVac also established a partnership with Belgium-based myNEO to develop mRNA-based cancer vaccines using myNEO’s tumor antigen discovery platform. This acquisition and partnership help to enhance CureVac’s oncology capabilities, but it’s too soon to forecast the impact of these new platforms since they are in very early research and development phases.

CureVac was founded in 2000, and its focus is on developing vaccines and therapies using messenger ribonucleic acid, or mRNA. mRNA offers several advantages, including cell-free, rapid, large-scale manufacturing and the ability to substitute new genetic sequences to create novel vaccines. Vaccines are typically composed of weakened viruses or proteins (antigens) that they express. In mRNA vaccines, the genetic code for an antigen is administered to patients who then manufacture the antigen themselves, which triggers an immune response.

We’ve launched coverage of CureVac, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing vaccines and therapies using messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA). We assign CureVac a fair value estimate of $15.40 per share, a no-moat rating, stable moat trend, and extreme uncertainty rating. On a risk-adjusted basis, CureVac is trading in 3-star territory about 26% above our fair value estimate.

CureVac was founded in 2000, and its focus is on developing vaccines and therapies using messenger ribonucleic acid, or mRNA. mRNA offers several advantages, including cell-free, rapid, large-scale manufacturing and the ability to substitute new genetic sequences to create novel vaccines. Vaccines are typically composed of weakened viruses or proteins (antigens) that they express. In mRNA vaccines, the genetic code for an antigen is administered to patients who then manufacture the antigen themselves, which triggers an immune response.