Nov 7 (Reuters) - Moderna ( MRNA ) reported a surprise

third-quarter profit on Thursday, driven by cost cutting and

higher-than-expected sales of its COVID-19 vaccine, even with

low revenue from its new respiratory syncytial virus shot.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company posted a profit

of $13 million, or 3 cents a share, for the quarter, compared to

a loss of $3.6 billion a year ago. Analysts had expected a loss

of $753 million, or $1.90 a share, according to LSEG data.

Moderna's ( MRNA ) Spikevax COVID vaccine brought in sales of $1.8

billion, up 3.5% over the previous year and handily beating

analysts' average expectations of $1.38 billion. The company

said it benefited from higher sales in the U.S. following an

earlier launch of its COVID vaccine this year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved updated

versions of Spikevax and rival vaccine Comirnaty from Pfizer ( PFE )

and BioNTech nearly three weeks earlier than

it did in 2023.

"We shipped more in the early days and were able to ensure

all healthcare providers had access to COVID vaccines," said

Chief Financial Officer James Mock in an interview.

Sales of Spikevax outside the U.S. were lower than for the

same period in 2023, when sales benefited from orders deferred

from 2022, according to Moderna ( MRNA ).

The company said expenses for the quarter were $1.93

billion, which was nearly 50% lower than the previous year,

driven in part by less unused manufacturing capacity and fewer

inventory write-downs.

Sales of Moderna's ( MRNA ) new RSV vaccine mRESVIA were $10 million,

far short of the $135 million analysts had expected, according

to data compiled by LSEG.

Moderna ( MRNA ) has been banking on revenue from newer mRNA shots,

including mRESVIA and an experimental COVID-flu combination

vaccine, to make up for waning post-pandemic demand for COVID

products.

"We were not able to compete during the heart of the

contracting season because (mRESVIA) got approved in May," Mock

said. "Many of the contracts were already in place, as well as a

substantial amount of inventory with customers already."

U.S. market share for Spikevax was 40%, down from 45% in the

third quarter of 2023, Moderna ( MRNA ) said.

Mock said around 7.5 million patients had received Spikevax

this year. Nearly 11 million people have gotten Pfizer's ( PFE ) COVID

shot in the same time, according to IQVIA data shared by an

analyst.

Moderna ( MRNA ) confirmed that CEO Stephane Bancel will vacate his

additional role as the company's chief commercial officer and

that President Stephen Hoge would take charge of sales as well

as medical and research affairs.

The company said its executives Jacqueline Miller and Rose

Loughlin had been promoted to the positions of chief medical

officer and executive vice president for research, respectively.

The company reaffirmed that it expects sales of between $3

billion and $3.5 billion for the year. It said it had lowered

the upper end of its forecast range for 2024 cost of sales to

40%-45% of product sales from 40%-50%.

Moderna ( MRNA ) said it is still on track to file for approval this

year of its combined COVID-influenza vaccine, RSV shot for

high-risk adults aged 18 to 59, and for its next generation

COVID vaccine.

The company said it planned to use priority review vouchers

to speed up the FDA applications for its COVID and RSV vaccines,

but not for the combination vaccine.