Motley Fool co-founder and CEO Tom Gardner included Moderna in his 2026 outlook as one of two AI-adjacent stocks positioned to benefit from continued adoption of artificial intelligence. Speaking at the firm’s annual Outlook webcast, Gardner cited Moderna’s integration of machine-learning tools across its mRNA design platform, noting the company has reduced early-stage candidate screening times by roughly 40% since 2024. He argued that this efficiency gain could accelerate pipeline advancement in areas such as oncology and rare disease vaccines. Gardner also reiterated his conviction strategy of holding more than 25 diversified positions for a minimum of five years, underscoring Moderna’s potential to deliver multi-year returns if its AI-driven R&D enhancements translate into late-stage clinical successes.

On February 4, 2026, Defiance ETFs introduced the Defiance Daily Target 2X Long MRNA ETF (MRNX), marking the first single-stock leveraged ETF designed to deliver twice the daily price movement of Moderna shares. The fund is structured to achieve 200% of Moderna’s daily return through swap agreements and options contracts, offering experienced traders a vehicle for short-term bullish bets. Defiance estimates initial assets under management of $50 million by the end of Q1, backed by Tidal Investments as adviser and Foreside Fund Services as distributor. The ETF’s prospectus includes explicit warnings about daily rebalancing risk, compounding effects over multi-day holding periods and the possibility of total principal loss in a single trading session.