Moderna posted its best two-day rally in a year after the company said a new vaccine to fight the Omicron strain of the coronavirus could be ready by early 2022 if needed.
The stock jumped 12% to the highest level since September 30 after jumping 21% in Friday’s global sale of risky assets, to regain its leading position on the S&P 500 since the start of the year. ‘year. The company mobilized hundreds of workers on Thanksgiving Day last Thursday to begin work on Omicron, Chief Medical Officer Paul Burton said over the weekend.
Moderna’s mRNA technology is ideally suited to adapting vaccines to new variants, according to Piper Sandler analyst Edward A. Tenthoff, who has an overweight rating on the stock.
“Moderna is better positioned to develop new vaccines against Covid-19 and now has the capacity to manufacture several hundred million doses of vaccine each month,” Tenthoff wrote in a note to customers. “SARS-CoV-2 is not going to go away and will provide years of future income. “
Jefferies analyst Michael Yee also set a bullish tone for Moderna investors, saying the latest gap should encourage people to get a boost as soon as possible, while biotech focuses on a new release for 2022. Moderna ” can advance new candidates to clinical trials within 60-90 days, ”he said.
BioNTech closed up 4.2% in U.S. trade after saying it was working on adapting its COVID-19 vaccine to treat the Omicron variant and expects a new version to be ready in every 100 days if necessary. Biotechnology and its COVID vaccine partner Pfizer put plans in place months ago. Pfizer stock closed 3% lower.
