Canaccord initiated shares of Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) with a Hold rating and $82 per share price target in a note Wednesday, with analysts stating the company is its own act to follow.
"Moderna is a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company well known for its COVID-19 vaccine, SpikeVax. The product emerged from the company's core platform technology: RNA encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs)," explained the analysts. "While SpikeVax has been a clear success, the company's still-healthy valuation anticipates significant maturation of the rest of the pipeline."
"There are several potential launches to help grow the top line (mgmt guides 4 potential respiratory launches by '25 and up to 15 across the pipeline by '28, en route to a $20-30B top-line company), but R&D spend of $4.8B (guided in 2023) is on the order of ~half of what a typical large pharma spends," they added.
While the firm believes a significant opportunity exists, it also acknowledges that on a risk-adjusted basis, the current valuation properly reflects the risk/reward.