Moderna stock decline: What it will take to get it moving higher again

Moderna's (MRNA) stock has fallen off in the post-pandemic period as demand for its COVID-19 vaccine — the company's primary commercial product — decreased significantly. Pfizer (PFE) recently lowered guidance on declining vaccine revenue, which Moderna shares took a hit correlatively. Moderna shares face heavy volatility because its business is tied heavily to the COVID shot, however the vaccine maker is looking to introduce new products to stabilize growth.

Yahoo Finance's Health Reporter Anjalee Khemlani discusses the fall of Moderna post-COVID, giving insights on the company's plan to introduce new products moving forward.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Video transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

- Just days before Halloween, we are looking at stocks that have spooked investors of late. We're wrapping up the week with pharmaceutical and biotech company Moderna. Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani has the story. Anjalee.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: That's right. The specter of pandemic profits is causing jitters among investors and their outlooks for companies like Moderna, whose outsized windfall from the pandemic has investors thirsting for more. Moderna is known to most as a company that makes one of a few COVID-19 vaccines. But what you may not know is that the vaccine is Moderna's single most commercially available product, which makes the stock extremely susceptible when demand for that slips.

Moderna peaked at nearly $450 per share in late 2021. And by comparison, it's been exsanguinated to about $75 per share today near late 2020 levels but not enough to be buried underground. BioNTech, which partnered with Pfizer to produce its COVID-19 vaccine, has been on a similar trajectory. But Pfizer itself hasn't necessarily enjoyed the same volatility since and during the pandemic.

It-- ironically, the spirit of Pfizer stock is the only one possessing Moderna and Pfizer's partner BioNTech as seen in recent weeks when Pfizer lowered its guidance to-- due to decreased vaccine sales. It was Moderna stock that took a hit. And it's now nearly $25-- 25%, sorry, down in the past month alone. So will Moderna's ghost haunt us only in the pandemic memory? Or will it come back to life with a new product, validating the hype around mRNA?

Moderna recently shared ambitions to launch 15 products across oncology, respiratory, rare, and latent diseases by 2028. And due to-- do investors need to see the improved products to believe it? That's the question that remains to be answered. And that being said, there is some optimism among analysts. Moderna does currently have 12 buy ratings, 10 holds, and 2 sells.

- Anjalee Khemlani, some excellent spooky wordplay there to talk about a very interesting stock to round out our Spooky Stock series. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.