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Moderna (MRNA) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Moderna (MRNA - Free Report) closed at $179.68, marking a +0.53% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.43%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.02%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.32%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the biotechnology company had gained 31.68% over the past month. This has outpaced the Medical sector's gain of 5.94% and the S&P 500's gain of 5.65% in that time.

Moderna will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Moderna to post earnings of $6.76 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 138.03%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $5.51 billion, up 184.7% from the prior-year quarter.

MRNA's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $26.64 per share and revenue of $22.01 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -5.83% and +19.19%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Moderna. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.26% lower. Moderna currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Moderna has a Forward P/E ratio of 6.71 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 22.45, so we one might conclude that Moderna is trading at a discount comparatively.

Also, we should mention that MRNA has a PEG ratio of 1.03. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Medical - Biomedical and Genetics stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.13 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 156, putting it in the bottom 39% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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