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Entrance to a Moderna building with the company's red logo sign above the doors
Photo: Investing.com

Moderna Stock Rises 4.8% as Nasdaq-100 Entry Nears

Nasdaq (GlobeNewswire)2 min read6 sources

Why did Moderna stock rise 4.8%?

Moderna (MRNA) stock rose 4.8% to $196.48 on Wednesday as its Nasdaq-100 entry on Oct. 9 nears, a move expected to bring buying from index-tracking funds.

Key numbers

Share price (Wed close)$196.48+4.81% on the day
Market value$78.4Bvs about $75B on Oct. 1
2026 gain (as of Oct. 6)+545%vs +14% for S&P 500 (per [4])
Citi price target$80Sell rating, about 59% below Wednesday's close (per [3])
Nasdaq-100 entryOct. 9Replaces Warner Bros. Discovery
Full melanoma dataOct. 24Presented at ESMO congress, Madrid (per [3])

What happened

Moderna (MRNA) stock rose 4.8% to $196.48 on Wednesday as its Nasdaq-100 entry on Oct. 9 nears, a move expected to bring buying from index-tracking funds. The shares have risen more than sixfold this year, lifting the company's value to about $78 billion. The surge began in mid-August, when Moderna's personalized skin cancer (melanoma) vaccine, paired with Merck's Keytruda, posted positive late-stage results. Full results are due at a cancer conference in Madrid on Oct. 24. Citi rates the stock Sell with an $80 target, saying the price has run far ahead of what the pipeline can justify.

Why it matters

Moderna's move into the Nasdaq-100 puts the stock in front of more investors, because more than 200 investment products worth over $800 billion track that index. Funds that copy an index must hold its stocks, so they buy when a company joins. A gain this large also means a lot of good news is already in the price, so the October data could move the shares sharply in either direction.

Who this affects

Marketbullish
Medium impact
Index-tracking funds expected to buy Moderna, helping current shareholders.
Companymixed
High impact
Shareholders gain, but valuation worries and trial risk remain.
Competitorsneutral
Low impact
BioNTech, Pfizer lag; up 1% and 16% this year.
Industrymixed
Medium impact
Cancer-vaccine hopes draw big money; some analysts warn.

Moderna vs BioNTech, Pfizer, Merck

ModernaMRNA$78.4B+4.8%+545%—
BioNTechBNTX$23.9B-0.5%+1%—
PfizerPFE$159.6B+1.8%+16%10.1x
MerckMRK$352.3B+0.6%—16.8x

As of 2026-10-07

How we got here

  1. Moderna and Merck report positive Phase 3 melanoma vaccine results; shares surge.

  2. Citi downgrades Moderna to Sell with an $80 target, citing valuation.

  3. Nasdaq says Moderna will join the Nasdaq-100 on Oct. 9, replacing Warner Bros. Discovery.

  4. Shares jump about 8% during the day to $204.60 as full melanoma data nears.

  5. Shares close up 4.8% at $196.48.

What to watch

  • Moderna joins the Nasdaq-100 before the market opens, replacing Warner Bros. Discovery.2026-10-09
  • Full Phase 3 melanoma vaccine data presented at the ESMO cancer congress in Madrid.2026-10-24

Educational content only. Not investment advice.

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