Shares of Moderna Inc. MRNA, -4.45% slumped 2.3% toward an eight-month low in morning trading Friday, and have tumbled 26.5% amid a six-day losing streak, enough for formerly bearish BofA Securities analyst Geoff Meacham to say investors should stop selling the biotechnology company. Meacham raised his rating to neutral from underperform, and lifted his stock price target to $180 from $135. Meacham said he has been bearish on Moderna for some time because of “overly optimistic” Wall Street assumptions on COVID-19 boosters, but has valuation has compressed in recent months and as the pandemic starts moving toward endemic status, he is now focusing more on the beyond-“Spikevax” pipeline. “Bulls previously called Moderna the ‘Tesla of Biotech,’ which meant that the stock narrative overruled valuation assumptions but now, the latter looks more reasonable,” Meacham wrote in a note to clients. “As a results, we think the risk/reward in [Moderna] shares is more favorable, considering Moderna’s leadership position in mRNA technology.” The stock, which has now lost nearly two-thirds of its value from the August 2021 peak, has shed 35.5% so far this year, while the S&P 500 SPX, -1.89% has declined 5.9%.
