Moderna (MRNA, Financial) fell 20.9%, cutting 0.5% from the Fund’s total return. While the company released positive first quarter financials, negative sentiment continues to grow as the company guided to a COVID-19-delivery low in the second quarter. Uncertainty around Moderna’s COVID-19 revenues, as well as what the company’s expense profile will look like going into next year, has depressed the stock. We believe there are enough potential offsets to the declining COVID-19 business going into 2024, such as future RSV and flu vaccines. Moderna is also showing promising data in other parts of its large pipeline, such as its combination respiratory vaccines, personalized cancer vaccine and other therapeutic protein indications.
From the Parnassus Value Equity Fund (Trades, Portfolio)'s second-quarter commentary.
