Covid vaccine stock S&P leader surges 663% this year
Moderna has become the S&P 500’s top performer so far this year, with shares up 663% after closing at $225 on Friday. The rally followed news that its…
Moderna, the covid vaccine stock S&P investors are watching, has surged 663% this year to become the index’s top performer so far, closing at $225 on Friday. The rally has put a vaccine maker ahead of chip companies benefiting from the artificial intelligence boom, but investors still lack detailed results from the cancer trial driving the move.
That evidence is expected on October 24, when Moderna and Merck are due to present the full numbers at a major cancer conference in Madrid. Until then, the companies have said the experimental vaccine worked but have not disclosed how well.
The rise marks a sharp reversal. In mid-August, Moderna shares were still down nearly 90% from their pandemic peak, after COVID vaccine sales collapsed and the company cut more than 800 jobs last year.
Trial news drove the rally
Moderna and Merck announced on August 19 that their experimental cancer vaccine had passed a final-stage trial in patients with skin cancer. Moderna shares closed up 177% that day, then fell 24% the next, according to the Inquirer.
The vaccine trial has become the central test of whether the company can build a business beyond its COVID shot. The announcement prompted a rapid repricing, but the lack of published detailed results leaves investors waiting for more evidence about the treatment’s performance.
“It provides proof of principle that personalised cancer vaccines work,” Marco Gerlinger, a professor at Barts Cancer Institute, told the Pharmaceutical Journal.
Moderna’s gains also extended on Friday as it rejoined the Nasdaq-100, an index of Nasdaq’s largest non-financial companies. Nasdaq said more than 200 funds holding over $800 billion track the index, meaning those funds had to buy shares as part of the change.
The New York Times reported on the same day that a national cancer vaccine push modeled on the COVID response is expected to launch in December. Moderna closed 14% higher that day.
Investors face a results test
The move has outpaced other leading stocks tied to the AI boom. SanDisk, which sells memory chips to AI data centers, is up 566% this year. The S&P 500 has gained about 14%.
Moderna’s recovery has not persuaded every investor. Martin Shkreli, a former drug company executive, has said he gives the stock bubble up to six months to burst. The company is now worth about $89.8 billion, while BioNTech and Genentech are testing cancer vaccines of their own.
The next major catalyst is the October 24 presentation in Madrid. Investors will be looking for the detailed trial figures that Moderna and Merck have not yet released.
Source: finance.yahoo.com
