When biotech stock Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) rolled out one of the first COVID-19 vaccines, it was hailed by many as a return to normalcy. Well, we’re still waiting on the normal part, but certainly, Moderna found a lot of success with this drug. So why is Moderna down better than 3% in Tuesday afternoon’s trading? It turns out that Moderna’s former success as a savior of normalcy is starting to wane.
One of the strangest points of COVID-19’s arrival was the fact that it drove flu cases way, way down. The exact cause of that is unclear; some thought that standard COVID-19 precautions had an impact on the flu virus’ transmission rates. Others thought that COVID-19 symptoms looked so much like the flu that everyone yelled “COVID!” when it was actually the flu. But regardless of the actual case, the rise in flu cases has proven to be a big problem for Moderna, which found itself unable to call its new flu vaccine a success. It couldn’t find enough people to treat to properly test the drug.
There may be some help coming, as the U.S. government plans to drop $5 billion on speeding up development for new coronavirus vaccines and treatments. Though all of that won’t be coming Moderna’s way, it may at least help take some cost burden off its back. And Moderna might be able to land a new win in its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) treatment program as it files for FDA approval on the drug sometime this quarter.
Despite these troubles, Moderna is in a good position as far as analysts go. Dubbed a Moderate Buy, Moderna stock has nine Buy recommendations, along with five Holds and one Sell. With an average price target of $224.14, Moderna comes with an upside potential of 43.82%.
