Moderna initiated at outperform at RBC on potential of cancer vaccine candidates

RBC Capital Markets has initiated Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) with a buy rating conceding that while the company has reached a COVID cliff in regards to vaccines against that disease, there is long-term potential from its development of cancer vaccines.
The firm has a $200 price target (~47% upside based on Wednesday's close).
Analyst Luca Issi noted that data for its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine has been "impressive" and the biotech can differentiate it by bundling it with a flu shot.
But Issi and colleagues are "cancer vaccine believers given melanoma signals that may translate across cancers."
Moderna (MRNA) has three cancer vaccines in development. One is in phase 2 and the others in phase 1. The more advanced candidate, mRNA-4157, is a personalized cancer vaccine in a 50-50 profit sharing partnership with Merck (MRK).
Read why Seeking Alpha contributor Edmund Ingham recently wrote that Moderna (MRNA) is a hold.