Here's the Next Catalyst for Moderna Shares

In this Motley Fool Live video recorded on March 26, healthcare and cannabis bureau chief Corinne Cardina and Fool.com contributor Adria Cimino discuss Moderna's (MRNA -4.23%) recent share performance and the element that may lead to future gains.

Corinne Cardina: Here's a follow-on question from Slido. Maximum Foolishness asks, ''Just wondering why Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are not getting any love for their accomplishments and the technology being employed. Moderna especially is so down, who knows what it will take to get out of the hole. I don't get it." I actually own one share of Moderna, and I've noticed that. I was expecting it to take off as well, and it's really gone down. Obviously, the broader market is having some downward pressure. But can you tell us a little bit more about Moderna's prospects, and what might bring it out of the hole?

Adria Cimino: Sure. I think Moderna, because it was so successful early in, they were the first with everything, not only were they the first to start trials, but then -- Pfizer got to market first -- but they got to market like a week later. Really, you can say that it was just easy all the way through, and people were so excited last year. Now, here we are, they are on the road to making billions in revenue, you would think that the stock would keep climbing even more so. But I think a lot of investors were betting on that whole success and so I think some people have just locked in profits. I think that's part of the problem. I think we're in a lull now. I think we're in a little bit of a lull. Now they are testing the strains, the strain specific boosters, and I think we're in a bit of a lull right now until they have results on that. If say they come out with really terrific results on the strain specific boosters, that's something that could definitely lift the shares. But I think investors are looking at, well, let's see what companies can we bet on that are going to have the next-generation vaccine, or the next this. Since Moderna has gone up so much, I think that's why we're having this bit of a lull, but there's no real reason for it. It's not like anything bad has happened or the prospects look terrible. In fact, just the opposite. I think that this opens up the door for more success of their technology in other programs that they have. It shows they can do it, shows their technology works. I think as investors, we have to have some patience and say we're no longer going to maybe see this huge gain in two days -- but over time, we should see more gains for Moderna.

Cardina: Certainly, I think there is a lot of "buy the rumor, sell the news" that was going on in the market when it came to Moderna. A lot of people were bidding it up in anticipation of it snagging that EUA [Emergency Use Authorization], people were really impressed by its phase 3 data. Now it's paying off, but certainly a lull. We don't have a whole lot of catalysts in the near term. I am holding Moderna for the very [laughs] long term. I'm really excited about what MRNA can do in a lot of those exciting pipeline programs. I am certainly optimistic about those. Be patient, lulls happen, we are holding for the long term.