10 S&P 500 Stocks on Jim Cramer’s Radar

7. Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 34

Cramer noted that Moderna, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) stock sank in 2024 and discussed the company’s bad numbers.

“Second, Moderna, with a stock down 58%, remains a casualty of the post-Covid hangover. One of the last now that Zoom Video and Docusign have taken off. The numbers here are staggering, staggeringly bad. The market capitalization in 2021 got as high as $195 billion, now at a $16 billion. Its declining revenues from $19.3 billion in 2022 to an expected $3.3 billion last year is eye-popping and nauseating and we keep waiting for the promised personal vaccines.

I like CEO Stéphane Bancel, nice man, but I’m sad to say that the stock would roar if he were to step down as manager, even if he definitely needs to stay on to help develop vaccines. He’s a great guy, but shareholders deserve better performance.”

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) is a biotech firm focused on creating messenger RNA-based therapeutics and vaccines for various diseases. In 2024, it announced plans to reduce its expenses by about $1.1 billion by 2027 due to declining demand for its COVID-19 products. To manage costs, the company will pause or discontinue certain projects in its pipeline.

The company also adjusted its R&D spending target to $3.6 billion–$3.8 billion in 2027, down from the previously projected $4.8 billion. CEO Stéphane Bancel emphasized that this shift would involve scaling back some studies and putting a hold on research related to latent viruses that can remain dormant in the body.

Bancel addressed a sharp stock decline in his annual shareholder letter, citing weak COVID-19 vaccine sales and a contraction in the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine market. Following a limited RSV vaccination recommendation from the CDC, Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) will exclude products in their launch year from its financial reporting.

Bancel acknowledged a decline in the company’s market share of the COVID vaccine, despite overall market volume staying the same. The company plans to pursue a more selective approach, targeting 10 product approvals over the next three years while delaying other programs until it is better equipped to launch them globally.