Not Nvidia, not Micron. This S&P 500 stock is up almost 500% year to date!

Nvidia stock is regularly among the most popular investments in the UK. At least that’s what data from platforms like AJ Bell shows. Fellow chipmaker Micron is fashionable too.

However, there’s a stock that’s well ahead of both in the S&P 500 this year. In fact, only semiconductor star Sandisk beats its 493% year-to-date return. What on earth is it?

A blast from the past

The company I’m referring to is Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA). Shares of the biotech firm jumped 177% yesterday (19 August), taking its one-year gain well above 500%.

For many, the name Moderna will come as a blast from the past. Its market-leading mRNA vaccine came to the rescue during the pandemic, minting the company an absolute fortune.

Since then though, a number of things have dented investor confidence and, believe it or not, the share price remains 60% lower than five years ago.

These issues include:

• Dramatically lower Covid sales.

• Financial losses as Moderna aggressively funds its drugs pipeline.

• A Trump administration hostile to vaccine research and development.

• Guidance cuts and earnings downgrades.

What has suddenly changed?

The reason for yesterday’s epic jump higher was a positive readout from Moderna’s personalised mRNA cancer therapy, developed with partner Merck. This was shown to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence and spread in a late-stage study when used with drug…