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Investing.com - Leerink Partners lowered its price target on Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) stock to $18.00 from $20.00 on Monday, while maintaining an Underperform rating following the company’s recent earnings call. The stock, currently trading at $27.28 with a market cap of $10.63 billion, has declined 18.59% in the past week alone.
The research firm noted Moderna’s aggressive cost-cutting measures, particularly highlighting a 43% year-over-year reduction in R&D expenses, which it described as "promising signs" that the company is working to optimize its cost structure amid steep revenue declines.
Despite these cost reductions, Leerink Partners indicated that the savings primarily offset revenue lost to delayed overseas COVID vaccine deliveries, resulting in unchanged year-end 2025 cash guidance of $6 billion.
The firm identified several key focus areas for Moderna, including upcoming ACIP COVID recommendations and the company’s ability to reverse revenue decline with its mNexspike launch, while questioning how receptive payers will be to Moderna’s premium pricing strategy.
Beyond COVID vaccines, Leerink Partners expressed concerns about Moderna’s CMV vaccine candidate, suggesting that recent trial developments, including a first interim miss and changes to the analysis plan, indicate "odds of a trial success are dwindling."
In other recent news, Moderna reported its second-quarter 2025 earnings, surpassing forecasts on both earnings per share and revenue. The company achieved an actual EPS of -2.13, beating the expected -2.98, and reported revenue of 142 million dollars, exceeding the forecasted 114.4 million dollars. Despite these better-than-expected results, Moderna’s stock experienced a decline in premarket trading due to investor concerns about future challenges. Additionally, Moderna announced further cost reductions for 2025, but also lowered its revenue guidance, which UBS noted could disappoint some investors. UBS maintained its Buy rating and $70.00 price target on Moderna’s stock. In contrast, BofA Securities lowered its price target for Moderna to $24.00 from $25.00, citing a decreased terminal growth assumption and long-term growth uncertainty. BofA continues to rate the stock as Underperform. These developments highlight the mixed sentiment surrounding Moderna’s financial outlook.
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