After briefly trading at close to $500 ($497.49 in mid-August), Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) fell hard. The stock found support at the 20-day moving average in the $375 range. Yet the nearly 50 times price-to-earnings ratio is very rich in the biotech space.
Did MRNA stock peak at around $500?
Moderna has a longer last immune response to that offered from BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE). AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN)’s vaccine for COVID-19 costs far less. So, the growing worldwide orders for Moderna’s mRNA-based vaccine are a tailwind. Add the need for a booster shot six months later and the annual revenue grows.
Moderna has vaccines for other diseases in the pipeline. The platform also has personalized cancer vaccines in development. Since cancer cells originate from the host cells and each host is different, personalized vaccine development has promising potential. This is a market for Moderna. It suggests that Moderna stock may have more room to run higher.
Income investors may consider Pfizer or AstraZeneca instead. Those two stocks also trade at a fraction of Moderna’s P/E multiple. Both firms offer exposure to the COVID-19 vaccine market. Conversely, Moderna stock may have peaked for now. Once the profit-taking ends, the stock could take another run back to the $500 level.