The news was little short of a disaster for biotech stock Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), as it confirmed some earlier news that was tough to swallow. Meanwhile, word out of Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) also gave Moderna some trouble, casting a negative halo effect over most of the field. Moderna is down over 4% in Monday afternoon’s trading as a result of the unfortunate conditions.
First, Moderna confirmed what some investors were afraid of – slumping sales of the COVID-19 vaccine. While objectively, the news was still quite good—between $6 billion and $8 billion in sales just on the vaccine—it was a far cry from formerly-seen levels, and that left Moderna stock hurting. What’s more, Pfizer only recently cut its outlook, which served as independent confirmation of what Moderna investors were afraid of: there just aren’t that many people getting their latest updated COVID-19 vaccine anymore.
There is slim hope for Moderna, but the news still isn’t good. Moderna noted that the size of the U.S. market for the COVID-19 vaccine is still, overall, unclear, which means it could be larger than expected. Of course, the converse is also true, and it could be smaller than earlier projected. Moderna noted that “…it is still too early in the U.S. vaccination season to accurately project where vaccination rates will land for the full year.”
What is the Prediction for Moderna Stock?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on MRNA stock based on six Buys and six Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average MRNA price target of $169.39 per share implies 81.79% upside potential.
