Starting July 21, Moderna Inc will replace Alexion Pharmaceuticals in the S&P 500 index. The addition to one of the closely tracked benchmarks followed the $39 billion Alexion takeover by AstraZeneca in December 2020.
It seems like Moderna is on a roll this year. It posted stronger-than-expected Q1 earnings of $2.84 per share on revenues of $1.9 billion in May. It updated its full-year vaccine sales forecast to $19.2 billion for the full fiscal 2021. Moreover, the group formally asked the US Food and Drug Administration to approve the request to allow its COVID-19 vaccine to be administered to teenagers in the following months.
After the news hit the wires, during today’s pre-market trading, Moderna shares traded 7.8% higher, indicating an opening price of $280 apiece – an all-time high. If the momentum is steady, this could point to a year-to-date gain of around 168%, pushing the market cap to $112 billion.
Sources: finance.yahoo.com, thestreet.com
