Modern (ARNM -0.53% ) recently announced an impressive 94.5% efficacy from a late-stage study of the coronavirus vaccine candidate mRNA-1273. The biotechnology stock jumped on the good news, but is it still a good choice to buy? That’s the question Corinne Cardina, head of the Office of Health and Cannabis, and Keith Speights, writer at Fool.com, tackle in this Motley Fool live video recorded on November 16, 2020.

Corinne Cardin: I don’t want to bury the lede, so I’m going ahead and asking what do you think of Moderna as a potential investment today? The stock is up about $6 on the news of this interim analysis. Do you think that with Moderna, this expectation of a safe and effective vaccine is already integrated? Would you cautiously call it a purchase? What do you think?

Keith Speights: First of all, I think you’re absolutely right. I think the expectation was, to a large extent, already built into the price. It wasn’t a double-digit percentage gain from Moderna this morning. This is only a reflection of the fact that investors are anticipating this good news, especially in light of Pfizernews from last week.

First off, I think some of the news was already priced in, but I think Moderna could be an intriguing investment opportunity for aggressive investors. There is always a risk with this stock, definitely. But the news of their interim results today was very good.

I think it seems likely that at this point they will be able to receive emergency use authorization for their vaccine and potentially approvals in other countries. But that’s just the beginning for Moderna. They have a very busy pipeline with other mRNA vaccines and therapeutics. I think the success of their COVID-19 vaccine could bode well for the rest of their pipeline.

Corinne Cardin: Absolutely, especially for Moderna, which I didn’t think I realized until recently, but did you know that the mRNA is all in the Moderna name? Fun fact.

Keith Speights: And it is also their stock symbol. [Laughing]

Corinne Cardin: Sure. This is big news, a proof of concept of practically their entire concept. There is still a near-term catalyst for this stock. Emergency use authorization, if that happens I could see the stock go up once it hits the market. I could see this also propelling the stock forward. So I don’t think he’s hit an all-time high so far, but maybe not in the future. We will definitely have to keep an eye on it.