Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Shares Up 7.1% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) rose 7.1% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $36.92 and last traded at $36.2340. Approximately 4,058,034 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 10,444,787 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.84.

Moderna News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Moderna this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Raised 2025 revenue view to roughly $1.9B (about $100M above the midpoint of prior guidance), reiterated up to 10% revenue growth for 2026, and flagged potential first approvals for flu and flu/COVID combo vaccines in 2026 — clear near‑term commercial and product catalysts supporting upside. Moderna expects 2025 revenue of $1.9B, above guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Projected year‑end cash of about $8.1B (including a $0.6B draw from a $1.5B term loan) and reiterated pipeline readouts in oncology, rare disease and infectious disease for 2026 — improves liquidity picture and highlights multiple binary events that can re‑rate the stock. Moderna Provides Business and Pipeline Updates at JPM
• Neutral Sentiment: Management presented a detailed pipeline update at the 44th J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference (transcript available) — useful for investors tracking timelines and readouts but contains few immediate commercial surprises beyond the guidance changes. JPM transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/opinion piece frames the V940 (Keytruda combo) data and vaccine revenue growth as a “high‑risk recovery” thesis — highlights significant upside if clinical readouts succeed but stresses binary risk and long timelines. Seeking Alpha analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest figures are effectively negligible/oddly reported (0 shares), so no clear short‑squeeze signal is evident from the release.
• Negative Sentiment: Management increased 2025 GAAP operating expense outlook by ~$200M (guidance now ~$5.0–5.2B), which along with a partial draw on a term loan raises margin and capital‑structure questions as revenue scales from pandemic peaks. Reuters: Moderna expects $1.9 billion in sales
• Negative Sentiment: Founder/chair public comments about political attacks on science have drawn attention and could create PR/policy risk in the U.S. market; investors may price in some reputational or regulatory uncertainty. MSN: Moderna chair comments

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MRNA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Berenberg Bank set a $28.00 price target on Moderna in a research report on Monday, November 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Moderna from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, October 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $30.36.

Moderna Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $15.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.84 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.87.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.51) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.15) by $1.64. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $893.29 million. Moderna had a negative net margin of 139.61% and a negative return on equity of 29.81%. Moderna’s revenue for the quarter was down 45.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.03 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Moderna, Inc. will post -9.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Moderna

In other news, Director Noubar Afeyan sold 23,853 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.48, for a total value of $703,186.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $115,679.52. This trade represents a 85.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 10.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Moderna by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,708,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,150,743,000 after buying an additional 1,312,192 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Moderna by 19.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,877,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,458,000 after acquiring an additional 1,420,690 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Moderna by 15.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,216,163 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,115,131 shares during the period. Theleme Partners LLP grew its position in shares of Moderna by 2.5% in the third quarter. Theleme Partners LLP now owns 8,068,810 shares of the company’s stock valued at $208,417,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Moderna during the second quarter worth approximately $94,910,000. 75.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Moderna

Moderna, Inc is a biotechnology company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines. The company’s platform leverages synthetic mRNA to instruct cells to produce proteins that can prevent or treat diseases. Since its founding in 2010, Moderna has advanced from early-stage research into a broad pipeline of vaccine and therapeutic candidates designed to address infectious diseases, rare genetic disorders and chronic illnesses.

Moderna’s flagship product is its mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, which was the first of its kind to receive emergency use authorization and later full approval in multiple jurisdictions.