Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Merck... Can Do Math: It Divested Its Stake In Moderna, After Seven-Fold Run Up


To be clear, I was not aware of Merck's move when I sold 75 per cent of my shares, last Friday in the holiday shortened session.

But while I still think Moderna a great company, and it is obvious that Merck still does (2018 backgrounder, on the IPO), too -- after having directly invested over $500 million in the novel vaccine and mRNA therapeutics developer -- it is overheated at what was at one point briefly over $150/share, yesterday. It will sell hundreds of millions of courses of the coming vaccine, but it will face astonishing pressure to price it at under $10 per dose. And perhaps well under, outside the US, Japan and Western Europe.

In any event -- should it dip below $100 again, I'd be a buyer at that point. Now I'm just a fan, mostly watching from the sidelines, Here's the bit from CNBC:

. . .U.S. drugmaker Merck said on Wednesday it has sold its equity investment in Moderna, after benefiting from a surge in the stock price of the vaccine developer this year.

Merck did not disclose the details of the sale proceeds, but said it expects to record a small gain from the sale in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Moderna’s shares have risen more than seven-fold this year, valuing the company at $55.80 billion as of Tuesday’s closing price. . . .


This is a return to the power-alley, so we will now switch up the masthead. Grinning, as there is always a brighter day ahead. . . .

नमस्ते

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