Why Moderna Inc. (MRNA) Crashed Last Week

We recently compiled a list of the These 10 Firms Were Last Week’s Worst Performers. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) stands against the other stocks.

Volatile trading persisted on the stock market last week as investors scrambled to react to a flurry of positive and negative news that sparked both buying and selling positions.

On Friday alone, all Wall Street main indices fell into the red territory, with trading dampened mainly by tariff threats and expectations of a higher inflation rate in the US.

Ten companies under mixed sectors also mirrored the decline, with each booking double-digit slumps. This article details which 10 companies suffered the most last week and what specifically caused investor pessimism.

To come up with last week’s worst performers, we considered only the stocks with at least $2 billion in market capitalization and $5 million in daily trading volume.

A scientist surrounded by vials and beakers in a modern laboratory, proudly displaying a vaccine.

Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna Inc. dropped its share prices by 17 percent last week to finish at $32.6 from the $39.42 registered on January 31 as investor sentiment was dampened by false news reports that the pharmaceutical giant manufactured vaccines to fight COVID-19 two years before the pandemic emerged.

An online post claimed that MRNA had manufactured COVID-19 vaccines in 2017. The allegations, however, were immediately debunked by a report from Reuters, saying that data on mRNA vaccines sent by the pharmaceutical giant to European regulators during the period were for early tests of the mRNA platform to treat or prevent diseases such as cancer.

In other news, investors also repositioned their portfolios ahead of the final decision on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as the country’s next health secretary.

What feared investors in particular was Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance, having been a prominent figure in the anti-vaccine movement over his doubts about vaccines’ safety and efficacy.

Overall MRNA ranks 9th on our list of last week’s worst performers. While we acknowledge the potential of MRNA as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as MRNA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.