Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) shares are trading higher Friday, extending a rally that carried the stock to a fresh 52-week high near $198 on upcoming clinical trial data. Here’s what you need to know.
- Moderna stock is approaching key resistance levels. What’s driving MRNA to record levels?
Moderna Hits a Fresh 52-Week High
Shares touched roughly $198 intraday, clearing the stock’s previous 52-week peak of $195.71. That strength builds on a big move from Thursday, when shares climbed nearly 7% after regulators overseeing this year’s European Society for Medical Oncology Congress accepted three research abstracts covering Moderna’s experimental cancer treatment, intismeran autogene, ahead of the event’s late-October run in Madrid.
The headline abstract, slotted into the conference’s Presidential Symposium, covers late-stage trial results combining intismeran with Merck’s Keytruda in melanoma patients.
Bernstein Remains Skeptical Despite the Rally
Not everyone on Wall Street is convinced the rally is justified, though. Bernstein SocGen Group’s Courtney Breen kept a Market Perform rating and $45 price target in place, a figure sitting well below where shares actually trade, even while acknowledging that intismeran has done more than anything else to validate the broader promise of mRNA-based cancer treatments.
Encouraging melanoma results are anticipated at the upcoming conference after the drug already cleared both goals set at an earlier trial checkpoint, and Moderna has nine studies underway examining the therapy across additional cancer types, Investing.com reported.
MRNA Shares Are Moving Higher
MRNA Price Action: Moderna shares were up 1.64% at $198.02 at the time of publication on Friday. The stock traded above its 52-week high of $195.70, according to Benzinga Pro.
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