00:00 Speaker 1
President Trump is reportedly planning to unveil a new proposal for addressing healthcare costs as soon as today. This as his administration tries to avert a spike in premiums driven by the expiration of key Affordable Care Act subsidies.
00:09 Speaker 1
Against this backdrop, my stock of the day is a fallen angel in Moderna. Remember Moderna? The former COVID-19 high flyer has seen its stock plunge 43% this year, as COVID vaccine demand has fallen and the company hasn’t diversified quick enough.
00:27 Speaker 1
The company has also earned this unwanted honor. It’s the most shorted stock in the S&P 500 according to S3 partners. The percentage of shares shorted stands at a high 20% according to Yahoo Finance data. For perspective, rival’s Fize, uh rival Pfizer’s short percentage is at 2.2% uh percent.
00:46 Speaker 1
Speaking of Pfizer, here’s what CEO Albert Bourla told me uh at Yahoo Finance Invest about his push into weight loss drugs.
00:56 Albert Bourla
We have the right to win in this space. We are a company that basically we made the primary care market.
01:03 Albert Bourla
We are a company that we know how to run big, global, complicated trials with a lot of people in vaccines or cardiovascular.
01:10 Albert Bourla
We are a company that know how to manufacture at scale. We have anything that is needed for us to be successful in obesity.
01:18 Speaker 1
So, uh, guys, uh of course, uh Pfizer trying to diversify its business, Moderna not so much, and Brooke, Moderna’s stock has been hammered as a result.
01:27 Brooke
Yeah, and I was looking at the ratings on the street and right now Moderna only has a five buy ratings, 17 holds and four sell ratings on the street. The average price target now sits around $36, nearly $37.
01:44 Brooke
And what we know is that this stock has come back to its pre-COVID level uh price. And and largely investors are just waiting for the next catalyst. They need to diversify away from just those COVID-19 vaccines which Jeffries says are down already as of November 21st, down about 24% year over year.
02:00 Brooke
And so clearly, there is a need to get into other uh drugs as well. And what we heard from City is that there there there’s opportunities around seasonal vaccines, like seasonal flu, norovirus. Also, they’re really looking to see uh Moderna make way within the oncology space as well. But these things need to happen in order for investors to really buy back into this company that like you said, was a high flyer during COVID.
02:21 Speaker 1
And as it it’s not like Pfizer’s stock is ripping people’s faces off to the upside here. I mean it’s not doing that. It’s been under pressure, but it’s good to see from a fundamental perspective Pfizer diversifying its business.
02:33 Speaker A
Yes, and as you highlight, I mean, you are looking at two paths here. Pfizer diversifying its business, also talking about AI, and then you have Moderna.
02:44 Speaker A
And it looks like there’s blood in the water here when it comes to the stock price. I mean, you look at it and it’s 420 peak from 2021, um and and look at where the stock is right now.
02:56 Speaker A
The company has been in a cost-cutting mode. Cost cutting is what they’re talking about, and also there’s been reports perhaps of a potential buyout as well.
03:08 Speaker A
So, uh as far as the Covid vaccine’s concerned, nobody’s talking about that vaccine. I mean, there’s been of course distrust that’s happened over the last year or so, but you also, you go to any doctor and there’s no doctor that mentions to you you need to get a Covid vaccine right now.
03:20 Speaker A
So certainly, the stock price tells you the whole story, that chart that you’re seeing right there.