Mitchell Martan
Investment Researcher for The Long Investor, Economics/Finance Background
Moderna is not a long here because its valuation is now super stretched after a huge one-day move. Per @A_May_MD, Moderna added $45B in market cap on a dataless phase 3 press release in adjuvant combination melanoma, with a drug it owns only half of. Non-experts expecting AI to cure cancer and develop drugs at insane speed are out of their league. The news is great, but risk needs managing, and this may work only as a trade. x.com x.com x.com x.com x.com
Moderna is a stock to bet against. x.com
Moderna's cash burn and persistent operating losses make profitable commercialization the central constraint despite promising melanoma results. Its revenue remains too small and uneven to cover development costs, while rising diluted shares weaken financial resilience. x.com
Moderna's cancer-cure mystery and optimism are the conditions that drive big stock moves. Its theme is now hot to trade, alongside related stocks. CoreWeave's 2025 AI data-center IPO rode similar uncertainty about AI revenue while AI was hot; it now faces AI-spending worries. x.com
Moderna looks expensive even under a bullish scenario. A base model values Covid, flu and RSV at $10B, oncology at $15B and the platform at $5B: a $30B market cap, or $75 a share versus $135, about 45% downside. Even $10B of oncology sales by 2035, one of the best pharma launches ever, at 8x sales and a 10% discount rate gives about $120. The CMV trial failed, norovirus is at risk, rivals are developing mRNA flu vaccines, and BofA's raised $170 target looks unjustified. x.com x.com x.com x.com … Show more
Moderna looks overvalued at about $80B after its melanoma success sparked a retail frenzy. Its upcoming Phase 2 lung cancer and Phase 3 kidney cancer readouts target cold tumors, with much lower odds than melanoma, though success in either would fuel the rally further. January calls cost about 67% of the share price annualized, the most expensive option seen on an already overvalued stock. The retail-driven trend could continue in the short term. x.com
Moderna is extremely attractive because curing cancer is a big story, but more consolidation is likely first. The weekly chart shows a wide gap between price and the upper Bollinger Band, so volatility may need another week or two to ebb before the stock possibly starts moving higher. x.com
Moderna's data catalyst is done, and it won't get an early stop in RCC. That makes it a good short here, with the story over until at least next summer. x.com
Tempus AI is being repriced because its acquisition of Personalis benefits directly from positive Moderna news, while short covering is still underway. Short interest is about 30 million shares, over eight days of normal 3-5 million share volume, and the three-day surge absorbed under a third of it. A small market cap makes the stock easy to push higher, and bullish divergences on the three-day and weekly charts usually last weeks to months. Resistance sits at 74-76, 80 and 84-86. x.com x.com … Show more
Moderna is worth roughly $190-215 a share on a probability-weighted outcome tree, above the $157 price after its melanoma vaccine readout. Failure implies $75-85, melanoma-only $125-160, positive Phase 3 lung data $250-400, and broad cancer vaccination far more. The market is more skeptical on lung, and that readout decides the trade. With about 50M shares short, a squeeze could hit $400 before a return to a $120-190 range. Most outcomes sit at or below the price, so defined risk is warranted. … Show more
Moderna has almost 40% downside to its average analyst price target of $119.56, which makes the sudden rush to buy it hard to explain. x.com
