Moderna Stock Price Drops 4.5% From Monday – Is Now a Good Time to Buy Moderna Stock?

For so long, investors had piled in capital to buy Moderna stock. The healthcare giant had been one of the foremost healthcare companies in the world for quite a while. However, given that healthcare companies never particularly get the rockstar treatment, it never exactly got much recognition.

All of that changed when the coronavirus pandemic hit last year. Everyone turned to the healthcare industry for help out of the pandemic, and Moderna suddenly became a hot commodity.

The Start of Moderna’s Vaccine Trials

Moderna was one of the first companies to produce a viable iteration of a coronavirus vaccine – along with companies like Gilead Sciences and Pfizer. Immediately progress was announced, many forward-thinking investors began looking into how to buy Moderna stock. Below is a two-year chart for the Moderna stock price:

Moderna had been a part of Operation Warp Speed – the Trump administration’s program to combat the coronavirus.

Like Pfizer, Moderna had chosen to pursue mRNA vaccines – a novel approach to vaccine creation that yielded positive results eventually. Both firms had established themselves as leaders in the race to develop a vaccine.

Moderna published its Phase I/II clinical trial data on July 14, showing impressive results. On the day the trial results were published, the Moderna stock price jumped 8 percent to hit a record high of $65.

When the company published the results of its Phase III trial in November, the vaccine was shown to have a 95 percent efficacy rate – similar to that of Pfizer. The results specifically showed that the Moderna vaccine was protective against both vaccine infection and several coronavirus cases.

November 2020 was a stellar month for the Moderna stock price. It shot up 57 percent in the month, moving from $68.31 to 107.25. Obviously, investors had moved in to buy Moderna stock even more.

A Bumpy Start to 2021

2021 started a bit rough for Moderna. The company had been gearing up to release doses of its vaccine en masse, but it ran into a bit of a snag. In January, about 330,000 doses of the vaccine were recalled after health officials in California reported higher than normal allergic reactions.

Then, in May President Joe Biden and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai supported the move to waive patent protection for coronavirus vaccines. The patents had allowed companies like Moderna and BioNTech to enjoy exclusivity for their vaccine protection.

Moving into May, the Moderna stock price took a bit of a hit. It had hit an all-time of $187.64, but it plunged to a low of $143.85 as Biden waived the patent protection.

Roaring into Q3

The stock price seems to have gotten out of the doldrums, however, Moderna announced earlier this month that it had applied for full approval for its vaccine from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The approval process is set to take months, but Moderna is at least trending in the right direction.

Investors have noted this and are moving to buy Moderna stock even more. This month alone, the Moderna stock price has jumped by 17 percent. Its current price peg of $217 is just 4.5 percent off its all-time high of $227.19 – which was set on Monday.

Should You Buy Moderna Stock?

Moderna definitely looks like a strong buy. The company is firing on all cylinders, and approval for its coronavirus vaccine will boost it even more – if and when it comes.

Despite starting 2021 on shaky footing, Moderna had a relatively healthy Q1. The company reported its first-ever profitable quarter, with $2.84 in earnings per share (EPS) and a revenue haul of $1.94 billion. $1.73 billion of those revenues came from vaccine sales.

EPS significantly exceeded analysts’ expectations, but sales numbers just missed estimates. For Q2, EPS estimates stand at $6.20, and analysts expect sales of $4.41 billion.

With a strong Relative Strength Index and the Moderna stock price comfortably outpacing its 20-day and 50-day moving averages, there’s no reason not to encourage investors to buy Moderna stock.

More Positive Forecast for Moderna

Beyond the pending FDA approval, Moderna is also working to strengthen its position as a vaccine manufacturer. Last month, the Moderna stock price rose after the company announced a 100 percent efficiency rate among study participants aged 12 to 17.

The company has also inked a long-term supply agreement with a coalition of low-income nations. The agreement will see Moderna supply 34 million vaccine doses in 2021 and a staggering 466 million doses next year. The company is already working on expanding its production capacity to up vaccine manufacturing to 3 billion doses by the end of 2022.

This week, Moderna announced a partnership with Medison Pharma to sell its vaccine in Israel and Central Eastern Europe. All of these will positively affect the stock price of a company that seems to only be on the rise.

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