Shares of Moderna Inc. MRNA, -2.51% fell 1.7% in premarket trading Friday, after the biotechnology company with one of the three COVID-19 vaccines granted emergency use authorization in the U.S. was downgraded by a long-time bullish analyst, saying that “the dream is alive, but valuation moves us to the sidelines. On Thursday, the company had reported a big second-quarter profit beat, but the stock pulled back 0.7% after soaring 20.9% the previous two days to a record close on Wednesday. Oppenheimer analyst Hartaj Singh cut his rating to perform, after being at outperform since January 2019. He said that while Moderna “continues to execute superbly” on its COVID-19 vaccine portfolio, the stock, after quadrupling this year, is pricing in “a tremendous amount” of recurring revenue and pipeline progress. “Given the non-COVID-19 pipeline still 2-3 years away from commercial and COVID-19 vaccines to start facing financial pressure as early as 2023, we move to the sidelines,” Singh wrote in a note to clients. Separately, J.P. Morgan’s Cory Kasimov raises his stock price target to $170 from $131, but reiterated his neutral rating, in a note titled: “2Q Snapshot — Saving the world even though valued like saving the universe.” The stock has rallied 298.5% year to date through Thursday, while the iShares Biotechnology ETF IBB, -1.78% has gained 15.4% and the S&P 500 SPX, +0.05% has advanced 17.9%.
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