Short Hills Capital's Steve Weiss once predicted Moderna Inc MRNA shares would make an Amazon-like move. Since then, the stock has been cut in half twice, and now he's dumping a large portion of his position alongside the CEO of the company.
What Happened: In 2021, not long after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Moderna shares soared to nearly $500 as the future of the biotech company looked bright. Weiss, a Moderna shareholder, came on CNBC and said he was increasing his position, with the stock trading around $480 per share.
He noted that despite its sharp move higher, it was still one of the least expensive stocks in his portfolio at that time based on current and future earnings. He made a bold call that the stock would continue to rise another 500% and trade like Amazon, noting that Moderna should be treated like a technology stock, not a biotech.
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Why It Matters: With the stock down about 75% since that time, Weiss has decided to sell a "significant portion" of his position, he said Monday on CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime Report."
"When you look at the insider sales, I've never seen a CEO sell so much stock," Weiss said.
He noted that CEO Stéphane Bancel had an extraordinarily large position to start with, but those stock sales are still going to negatively impact the stock near term, he said.
Although Weiss is cutting his position in a major way, he told viewers that he still believes in the future of the company and thinks it's worth owning long term.
Long term, the story remains intact, but short term, the company is going to face some challenges with no real catalysts on the horizon and a market that's currently lacking an appetite for anything in the biotech sector, he said.
"Stéphane's sales are under a 10b-5, so he's not selling in response to events or what he expects events to be, but it's still just an inordinately large level of sales and the market is going to cue off that," Weiss said.
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MRNA Price Action: Moderna shares were up 1.61% to close at $120.41 on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro.
Photo: Mufid Majnun from Pixabay.
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