(Bloomberg) — Moderna Inc. and BioNTech SE jumped, ending a two-day plunge, ahead of an expected update from U.S. regulators on the authorization of a booster Covid vaccine shot.
Moderna’s stock rebounded Thursday, climbing 4.2% to $401.69 at 11:49 a.m. in New York after the vaccine maker and its peer BioNTech lost $60 billion in value in the two prior sessions. Moderna is still below Monday’s intraday record. After a June lull with less than 10 million shares trading daily, interest has picked back up with nearly 54 million shares changing hands on Wednesday.
Anticipation is building ahead of an expected update from U.S. regulators on getting a third jab for people with compromised immune systems. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to update authorizations on the inoculations from BioNTech and its partner Pfizer Inc. as well as Moderna, as soon as Thursday.
BioNTech rose 7.1%, still below prior record highs. Pfizer Inc., the partner of the Mainz, Germany-based drug developer, rose 1.7%.
Moderna’s new study showed a third vaccine shot significantly raised antibody levels against the coronavirus in transplant patients, bolstering the biotechnology company’s case for boosters.
With its market size briefly breaching $200 billion on Monday, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company’s valuation has been drawing increasing skepticism from Wall Street deeming it unsustainable. Current levels were “unjustifiable on a fundamental basis,” a Bank of America Corp. analyst wrote earlier this week.
Moderna trades at nearly three times the value of its Covid shot, Bloomberg Intelligence’s John Murphy said. That leaves little room for any missteps in the company’s execution, which could cause the stock to plummet.
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