On Thursday, Piper Sandler affirmed its Overweight rating on Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) shares, with a $214.00 price target. The biotechnology company, traded on NASDAQ:MRNA, received positive remarks for its projected product sales and pipeline developments.
Moderna has forecasted at least $4.0 billion in product sales for 2024, with its COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax expected to contribute $3.55 billion. The company's respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine candidate, mRNA-1345, is anticipated to receive FDA approval by the May 12th Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date. Confidence in the approval stems from the vaccine's promising clinical trial results.
The next-generation COVID vaccine mRNA-1283 has demonstrated non-inferiority to Spikevax in Phase III trials, and Moderna is also progressing with its combined Flu+COVID vaccine, mRNA-1083. The latter has completed enrollment for its Phase III trial, with results expected within the year.
Moderna's financial strategy includes a $750 million financing deal with Blackstone (NYSE:BX) to support its seasonal flu vaccine program. Additionally, the company has completed the enrollment for the Phase III CMVictory trial and plans to release interim data later this year.
On the research front, Moderna reported encouraging Phase I/II safety and efficacy data for vaccines targeting Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), varicella-zoster virus (VZV), and norovirus. Financially, Moderna closed 2023 with a robust cash position of $13.3 billion and projects approximately $9.0 billion in cash by the end of 2024. The company's financial guidance and clinical advancements have led Piper Sandler to reiterate its positive stance on the stock.
InvestingPro Insights
As Moderna continues to make headlines with its pipeline developments and financial strategies, real-time data from InvestingPro offers additional insight into the company's market position. With a market capitalization of approximately $40.92 billion, Moderna is a significant player in the biotechnology industry. Despite a challenging year reflected by a -64.45% decline in revenue over the last twelve months as of Q4 2023, the company maintains a strong cash position, which is a critical factor in its ability to invest in research and development. This is corroborated by one of the InvestingPro Tips that highlights Moderna's advantage of holding more cash than debt on its balance sheet.
Another InvestingPro Tip to consider is the company's aggressive share buyback strategy, which often signals confidence from management in the company's future prospects. This is particularly relevant for investors as share buybacks can potentially increase shareholder value. Moreover, Moderna's stock has shown a strong return over the last month with a 13.45% price total return, indicating a positive short-term investor sentiment.
For those seeking deeper analysis and additional InvestingPro Tips related to Moderna, including sales forecasts and profitability outlooks, further information can be found at https://www.investing.com/pro/MRNA. There are 11 more tips available on InvestingPro, which can be accessed with an additional 10% off a yearly or biyearly Pro and Pro+ subscription using the coupon code PRONEWS24.
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