By Doug Busch

Moderna stock, depressed for so long, is breaking out -- and the gains could keep coming.

In markets, strength often begets more strength, or, as technicians like to say, trends once in motion tend to remain that way more likely than they are to reverse. Case in point biotech. After hitting a devilish intraday low of $66.66 on April 9 the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF has gained more than 90%. The fund has advanced 29 of the last 40 weeks.

Of course, not all stocks have risen in a straight line, and often good things take time. Moderna rounded out a bottom in 2025, and the stock is now putting its foot on the accelerator in 2026. As of midday Tuesday, it is the best performer in the S&P 500, and has jumped 30% during the first eight days of 2026. That type of price action often signals institutional accumulation and suggests the market may be assigning a higher value to the company's improving outlook. In our last Chart of The Week post of 2025 we suggested buying the stock at $30 and that has proved to be a worthy investment.

Wit the stock trading at a trecent $38.50 on Tuesday, a longer term double bottom with handle looks to be forming. Tuesday's break above a $36 pivot could now see this stock move toward $64 by year end. One has to admire the recent bullish golden cross with the shorter-term 50-day simple moving average crossing above the 200-day simple moving average, confirming that there has been a positive trend change. Momentum is on its side as it has clung to its 21-day exponential moving average since the start of December, about the same time it started showing relative strength against biotech peers as seen on the ratio chart against the SPDR S&P Biotech ETF.

Technicians believe in buying strength, and that means adding to winners as strength is confirmed. Stocks that continue to hold gains and push through resistance often reflect ongoing institutional demand. As long as the trend remains intact and key support levels hold, Moderna is signaling that momentum favors continuation, making strength something to respect, not fade.

Write to Doug Busch at douglas.busch@barrons.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 13, 2026 13:26 ET (18:26 GMT)

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