Global Courant
Investors are not fully appreciating the wider applications of Moderna’s mRNA vaccines, creating a major buying opportunity, UBS said Monday. The bank upgraded Moderna to buy from neutral. UBS has cut its price target from $221 to $191, though the new forecast implies a 61% increase from Friday’s close. Moderna shares struggled in 2023, losing more than 34%. MRNA YTD mountain Moderna shares are down nearly 35% year to date. UBS analyst Eliana Merle noted that while the future of the Covid-19 market is uncertain – thus questioning earnings for 2023 – the stock’s drop could present a buying opportunity as it only takes into account the downside risk of coronavirus vaccines without the potential benefit of other products. Merle pointed to vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza and cytomegalovirus (CMV) as promising upside drivers for the company. “We think MRNA’s CMV vaccine could be a major potential upside driver over the next 1-2 years, with limited price (leading cause of birth defects, no approved vaccines),” Merle said. “We think latent viruses could be a big[opportunity]for mRNA (high public health needs, lack of successful vaccines) and success in CMV would have read for other programs (e.g., EBV).” – CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
