Wall Street Says This Beaten-Down Stock May Climb Nearly 78%. Is That Too Optimistic?

(NASDAQ: MRNA) once delivered rapid multibagger returns -- and was the stock everyone wanted to own. That was back in the pandemic's early days. The coronavirus vaccine maker rose by more than 400% in 2020 and soared even more in the first half of 2021. And it went on to generate billions of dollars in revenue and profits.

But over the past couple of years, investors have turned their backs on Moderna stock. That's because its coronavirus vaccine, Spikevax, is its only approved product -- and investors worry about what its revenue will look like in a post-COVID-crisis world. Wall Street analysts, as a group, are a lot more optimistic about its prospects. The average share price forecast calls for Moderna to soar 78% in the coming 12 months.

Today, Moderna trades for about $120 a share. While analysts' share price forecasts range from a low of $82 to a high of $430, the average comes in at $215.93, according to Yahoo Finance. Now, let's look at Moderna's revenue picture today and its future prospects. It was a growth machine when people were initially getting inoculated against COVID. But with about two-thirds of the world's population fully vaccinated, demand for COVID-19 vaccines has dropped -- and so have Moderna's earnings. For example, in the most recent quarter, its product sales tumbled 69% year over year to $1.8 billion. And net income fell 97% to $79 million.

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Source Fool.com