Moderna Stock Review

Moderna, Inc. is listed on the NASDAQ-100 Index. To be more specific, the stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.

Moderna Stock trades with the (more finite details):

Ticker symbol: MRNA
CUSIP number: 60770K 107
GICS Sector: Health Care
GICS sub-industry: Biotechnology

And NASDAQ is one of the largest Stock Markets in America by market capitalization. It ranks #2 after the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Moderna – Quick Intro

Moderna is a Biotechnology company from Massachusetts, United States. The company was founded in September 2010.

The company is popular for its research and development of vaccines for HIV, seasonal flu and the Nipah virus.

More importantly, the vaccine that brought them to the spotlight was the COVID 19 vaccine.

Although the one developed by Moderna in collaboration with NIAID and BARDA was not the first commercial vaccine product, it was better in some aspects.

Their second COVID-19 vaccine was easier to administer and store than the already existing ones. It is administered 28 days apart.

All about Moderna Stock

Moderna is a small company when compared to the likes of its competitor Pfizer.

Since the recommendation for the use of Moderna mRNA-1273 started, Moderna has been boasting of an increase in net income from the sales of the vaccine.

Making $8 million on the first batch of vaccine sales in the first quarter was a breakthrough to success. Nevertheless, there is much more for them.

Their net income for the quarter ending March 31, 2021, has tremendously increased to $1.22 billion.

The difference is amazingly obvious and attractive for many investors.

What could this mean to Moderna?

The reports on the progress of their mRNA-1273 were very promising to many investors. With such success stories, their stock price went high following earnings.

That is expected when there is high demand.

You can see how they have grown considerably over the years since they started trading. Their initial stock price of $23.00 per share now measures $202 per share.

What we missed between these periods of grass to grace

ModeRNA Therapeutics (private company) was the first name since its inception in 2010.

In 2011, Stephane Bancel became the CEO, hired by Noubar Afeyan. The growth of the company skyrocketed within 2 years of the establishment.

At that time, the company’s value grew to $1 billion. It was not until 2013 that AstraZeneca collaborated with Moderna.

AstraZeneca signed a five years contract to help Moderna develop their mRNA for treatments by supporting them financially.

The treatment centred on therapeutic areas renal diseases, cancer, metabolic and cardiovascular disease.

That same year, they were able to raise $110 by selling some of its shares to the public.

In 2018, their name changed to Moderna, Inc. (public company) through the biggest IPO. The name is a coinage of “modified” and “RNA” to show their technology in modifying mRNA.

The same year on December 7, they start to trade on Nasdaq Global Select Market. From 2010 – 2019, Moderna can boost $3.2 billion in equity.

How COVID 19 vaccine change Moderna stock growth

Moderna is quite making an outstanding move, which is earning them a way to the top. Their vaccine has outperformed that of the competitors in terms of storage and ease of use.

More so, their clinical trial of the vaccine on children between the ages of 12-17 promised 100% effectiveness from the initial 94%.

This is the catch. The U.S is already making more orders, which will amount to over 250 million doses purchased.

The vaccine is also bringing in governments of other countries, which means more supplies. For the time being, Moderna has sold more than 600 million doses.

With the price range of $25 and $37 per dose, you can imagine how much revenue they can generate with more orders on their door.

Earnings and Revenue Growth

Revenue: Increase US$803 million (2020)
Operating income: Negative increase US$−763 million (2020)
Net income: Negative increase US$−747 million (2020)
Total assets: Increase US$7.336 billion (2020)
Total equity: Increase US$2.561 billion (2020)

Generating huge total revenue of $803 million from $60.2 million just in the space of a year poses a great value for the investors.

1. The first vaccine dose

mRNA-1273 is Moderna’s first Covid-19 vaccine. Its Phase 1 clinical trial started in July 2020.

The clinical trial of the vaccine showed 94.1%. In December 2020, the U.S FDA approved the use of the vaccine to tackle coronavirus. It was a breakthrough for them.

Their stock price went high after the announcement. As difficult as it may sound, Moderna has not made any sales since its inception in 2010.

However, the record was broken with the sales of the COVID 19 vaccine. The first time the company has received an income from their product.

With their hopes high, Moderna was expecting $18.4 billion from sales this year. Even the investors believe it has opened a way for more marketable products and success.

2. The second vaccine dose

mRNA-1283 is Moderna’s second COVID-19 vaccine. Phase 1 clinical trial started On March 15, 2021.

The Covid 19 vaccine requires second shots for more protection as recommended by WHO. What looked like a single shot vaccine has to turn into booster shots.

In actuality, anyone who had the first dose will likely go for the second dose just to get it over with.

So, could this mean more value stock for Moderna? It may or may not. The market is already getting more competitive than Moderna may have anticipated.

However, Moderna stock went south beyond their prediction.

Moderna stock went down by 25% by March 2021. Three reasons could have led to this.

More rivals. WHO, on February 2021 announced the approval of two more vaccines.

That is, Covishield produced by the Serum Institute of India and AstraZeneca (AZD1222) by AstraZeneca-SKBio (Republic of Korea).

Although many other countries are making huge orders, it is not yet approved in the U.S.

More so, the clinical trials of Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) becoming successful leaves the hopes of Moderna stock (NASDAQ: MRNA) on the rope.

Also, the U.S FDA approved a third Covid 19 vaccine (single-shot) produced by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ). This made Moderna have more rivals than expected.

A rise in bonds. Stocks and bonds move in the opposite direction. The increase in the U.S bond yields attacked the growth of the stock.
AstraZeneca is one of the biggest investors in Moderna, Inc. It sold its shares worth more than $1 billion (7.7% stake).

Could this be because they are soon to become competitors or maybe they saw some better uses for their money?

Whatever the case may be, the sudden pullout may have affected Moderna’s stock. At that time, many investors did not see their Stock as a good buy.

3. The third vaccine dose

mRNA-1273.351 is Moderna’s third COVID 19 vaccine.

Will the third vaccine dose quadruple Moderna stock value?

The COVID 19 is not going away anytime sooner. Experts believe the virus will become endemic.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, new variants of the virus are on the increase. At the time being, there are already six notable variants in the US.

The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) accounts for more than 10% of sequenced virus samples in the U.S.

It tends to spread easily especially among unvaccinated people. For vaccinated persons, this new variant alters the effectiveness of the vaccine in clinical trials.

However, vaccinated people seem to show more immunity than expected. What we do not know is how long the immunity will last.

Moderna is working hard to develop booster shots. Hopefully, it will be effective in helping to combat the new variants and provide full protection to the recipients.

Hence, more vaccine is likely to be sold. That will turn into billions of orders. Therefore, there is a chance for more growth in the mRNA stock in years to come.

Why Moderna stock is a good buy now?

Regardless of the recent fluctuations, investors expect Moderna’s performance to go up the scale. Even with many COVID 19 vaccines in the market, there is room for more supplies.

Roughly, about 8% of the world’s population has taken the vaccine. The larger population still lies in wait. Thus, Moderna can still accomplish more than 3 billion doses in view in 2022.

Although the virus may linger for a while, there is a plan beyond the pandemic. Moderna has more prospects beyond the COVID 19 vaccine.

Before the company can see more profit, they have to seize the opportunity.

This is why they are working hard to reinforce the development of their large vaccine pipeline with the influence of their contribution to the Covid-19 vaccine.

That means, soon, they may be rolling out more vaccines. Not for COVID 19 though, but for other infectious diseases that stopped at clinical trials.

Are you interested in the Moderna stock purchase plan?

It is important to note that:

Moderna, Inc. does not pay a dividend.
Again, you cannot purchase Moderna, Inc. shares directly. You can only do so through a stockbroker. Any stockbroker will serve.

Thanks for reading, please let me know your thoughts and comments below.