(MENAFN- Baystreet.ca)
Moderna Stock Rallies As Company Joins The S&P 500 Index
Pharmaceutical company Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) has joined the S&P 500 stock index.
The addition to the S&P 500, which is comprised of the 500 largest U.S. stocks by market capitalization, comes as the drugmaker transforms itself from an early-stage biotech firm to a vaccine maker supplying COVID-19 shots around the world.
And Moderna is now the best performing stock in the S&P 500 this year. With a gain of just over 207% so far in 2021, Moderna's share performance tops the index's existing leader, L Brands, which has risen 104% year to date.
In the runup to its inclusion in the U.S. benchmark, Moderna's stock has made fresh highs advancing more than 30% over four trading sessions. The shares are now at $321.11 U.S., giving the company a market capitalization of $129 billion U.S.
Moderna secured its place in the upper echelons of U.S. biotech companies after receiving emergency authorization for its COVID-19 vaccination last December.
Skeptics of Moderna's surge in recent months note that its pipeline is in the early stages of human testing while the market for COVID-19 booster shots isn't fully understood.
Still, recent lab results show Moderna's vaccine produces antibodies against the COVID-19 Delta variant. Analysts at Goldman Sachs predict Moderna could have a new flu shot on the market by 2023 and a combination of a flu and COVID-19 vaccine as soon as 2024.
The company also is working on new vaccines and medicines for cancer and HIV, as well as Zika and heart disease.
MENAFN22072021000212011056ID1102492518
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.