Jefferies sees Moderna stock ‘rebounding back up in 2023’, upgrades to Buy By Investing.com

By Senad Karaahmetovic

Moderna (NASDAQ:) shares are trading almost 3% higher in pre-market Monday after Jefferies analysts upgraded to Buy from Hold.

The analysts also raised the price target to $275 per share (from $170), suggesting an upside of more than 40% from Friday’s closing price.

For them, the COVID-19 vaccine story is “old news” with most investors not caring too much about it at this point. The analysts shared 4 reasons why they believe Moderna stock will trade higher in 2023.

1. The new PCV cancer story is the “new shiny thing”;
2. Predict Phase III RSV vaccine will be positive;
3. Predict “good” efficacy/tolerability for “combo” vaccines (data coming in 2023);
4. Orphan disease franchise data coming later 2023;

“We see stock rebounding back up in 2023, a return of pipeline opportunities and a “story stock” as generalist and HC interest revisits the stock,” the analysts added in an upgrade note.

Moderna stock price is down almost 24% year-to-date (YTD).