Moderna's Nasdaq-100 Entry: What Does It Mean for the Stock?
Moderna MRNA shares are set to join the Nasdaq-100 Index on Oct. 9, marking another milestone for the biotech after its sharp gains this year. The company will replace Warner Bros. Discovery in the index before the opening bell on Friday.
The change comes after the recent completion of Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, whose shares have now ceased trading. The combined entity has been named Skydance SKYD following the transaction and recently started trading on the NYSE.
Why Is Moderna Being Added to the Nasdaq-100?
While Nasdaq has not cited any specific factor behind Moderna’s addition, its inclusion comes after a sharp increase in the company’s market value and growing optimism around its business prospects. The Nasdaq-100 is widely regarded as a large-cap growth index, with Nasdaq describing it as a benchmark focused on innovation and growth. Its constituents span several industries, including healthcare, alongside its strong technology representation. This makes Moderna’s addition notable as the company seeks to establish itself as a growth-oriented biotech beyond its legacy as a COVID-19 vaccine maker.
Moderna’s improving prospects have primarily been supported by positive phase III results for its personalized cancer therapy, which is being developed in collaboration with Merck MRK. The study met its primary endpoint of recurrence-free survival and a key secondary endpoint of distant metastasis-free survival in certain patients with high-risk melanoma. The results have strengthened investor confidence in the potential of Moderna’s mRNA platform beyond vaccines. The stock’s strong performance following the results likely helped support its eligibility for inclusion in the Nasdaq-100.
The inclusion could also create a more direct benefit for MRNA through the investment products linked to the index. Per Nasdaq, the Nasdaq-100 is tracked by more than 200 investment products with over $800 billion in assets under management globally. As funds and other products tracking the benchmark adjust their portfolios following changes in its constituents, Moderna could see incremental institutional demand for its shares.
However, the inclusion does not change Moderna’s underlying fundamentals. It has no direct impact on the company’s operations, cash flow or pipeline development. Any benefit from the inclusion is likely to be more technical and demand-driven, as index-tracking funds may need to buy MRNA and adjust their portfolios. The stock’s longer-term performance will continue to depend on Moderna’s underlying business and pipeline.
MRNA’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
Shares of Moderna have skyrocketed 566% year-to-date, significantly outperforming the industry’s 1% growth.
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From a valuation standpoint, the company is currently trading at a premium to the industry. Based on the price-to-sales (P/S) ratio, the stock trades at 30.84 times forward 12-month sales, higher than the industry average of 2.06 times.
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Estimates for Moderna’s 2026 and 2027 loss per share have improved over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Moderna currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
