Prăbușirea acțiunilor Moderna se agravează chiar și după ce Morgan Stanley a spus că rezultatele vaccinului antigripal ar putea crește acțiunile

Topline

In a glimmer of hope for one of this year’s worst-performing stocks, Morgan Stanley analyst Matthew Harrison projected incoming results for one of Moderna’s flu vaccine candidates would likely be a promising development for the firm’s struggling stock, joining a growing crop of experts looking to Moderna’s potential suite of offerings—and not necessarily its Covid-19 vaccine—as a catalyst for growth, even as shares continue to plummet.

Fapte-cheie

In a Tuesday evening note to clients, Harrison said phase 2 trial data for Moderna’s flu vaccine in the coming weeks would “likely demonstrate non-inferiority and even a trend toward superiority” relative to competing products on the market—an improvement from December results that Harrison called “undifferentiated” from biotech firm Sanofi’s flu vaccine.

The bullish reading comes amid a steep drop for Moderna shares, which fell 6% Wednesday to $135.73 and have plummeted 42% this year, becoming the S&P 500’s third-worst-performing stock—behind only Etsy (down 43%) and PayPal (44%).

Harrison nu a recomandat investitorilor să cumpere acțiunile, reiterând în schimb un rating neutru, dar noua țintă de preț a companiei de 213 de dolari implică că acțiunile ar putea crește vertiginos cu aproximativ 49% în anul următor. 

Other analysts are more bullish: In a Friday note, Piper Sandler’s Edward Tenthoff reiterated his $348 price target, a staggering 150% above current prices, after Moderna announced three new vaccine candidates under development—one for herpes, one for the virus that causes shingles and one targeting antigens for cancer.

Tenthoff le-a spus investitorilor că succesul vaccinului Moderna împotriva Covid-19 a redus riscul financiar asociat cu dezvoltarea de noi vaccinuri folosind aceeași tehnologie și a promovat strategia de dezvoltare „amplă” a companiei – pe care alți analiști au indicat-o, de asemenea, drept o sursă de oportunitate. 

On Tuesday, Moderna initiated phase 3 trials for a vaccine targeting the respiratory syncytial virus, which causes a respiratory illness akin to the flu and Covid; the firm also has an HIV vaccine in the works.

Fapt surprinzător

Moderna has plunged 72% from an all-time closing high of $484 on August 9, 2021, wiping out more than $140 billion from the firm’s market capitalization, which now stands at less than $56 billion.

Fundalul cheie

Founded in 2010, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna spent nearly a decade developing the technology for its messenger RNA vaccines, which tell the body to produce part of a pathogen to trigger an immune response (unlike traditional vaccines that instead use a piece of the pathogen). Once the pandemic hit, the company doubled down on the effort and in November 2020 filed for an emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine. The shots have proven to be a massive boon for businesses heading up their development, but Moderna shares have struggled in recent months as critics increasingly question whether or not sales of Covid-19 vaccines alone will prove a viable revenue stream in the years to come. 

Ce să urmăriți

Moderna este programată să-și publice veniturile din al patrulea trimestru joi dimineață. Analistii se asteapta ca firma din Massachusetts va raporta probabil primul profit trimestrial si venituri de 6.8 miliarde de dolari, in crestere cu 1,090% fata de anul trecut. 

Numărul mare

$ 5 miliarde. That’s nearly how much third-quarter revenue Moderna reported in November, falling notably short of average analyst projections calling for $6.2 billion. 

Lecturi suplimentare

Prăbușirea acțiunilor Moderna: Pierderile depășesc 140 de miliarde de dolari, deoarece persoanele din interior vând acțiuni de milioane de dolari (Forbes)

Prăbușirea stocurilor Moderna se intensifică: pierderile depășesc 130 de miliarde de dolari (Forbes)

Pfizer declanșează o scădere a stocurilor de 28 de miliarde de dolari după ce a avertizat că vânzările de vaccin împotriva Covid-XNUMX ar putea dezamăgi anul acesta (Forbes)