Gilead Sciences, Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) has been the darling of Wall Street today, after a study conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases found that its experimental coronavirus drug remdesivir met its primary endpoint. Now, emergency use of the drug awaits approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which could come as soon as tonight. The stock was last seeing trading up 6.6% at $83.87, extending its-year-over-year lead to 29%.

Gilead entered the year trading around $65, and hitting an annual low of $62.23 in mid-January. Since then, the shares have seen a meteoric rise on the charts, up 35%. During this climb, GILD's 50-day moving average has contained any pullbacks associated with the volatility of the current market climate and the biotech sector in general.

Despite this ascension, analysts are hesitant of Gilead stock. Of the 22 in coverage, 13 rate it a lethargic “hold” or worse.Echoing this is GILD’s consensus 12-month price target of $76 is a 9.1% discount to its current levels.

All of this buzz today has triggered a frenzy in the security's options its. At last check, over 230,000 calls have crossed the tape, two times the average intraday amount and volume ranking in the 99th percentile of its annual range. The three most popular options today are all calls, with new positions all being opened at the weekly 5/01 90-, 85- and 84-strikes. Buyers of these calls are banking on GILD to keep climbing through the end of the week, when the options expire.

Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) is brushing off the broad-market selloff this morning, up 6.2% to trade at $48.89, after the biotech entered a 10-year collaboration deal with contract drugmaker Lonza Group (LONN) to manufacture up to 1 billion doses annually of a MRNA's possible COVID-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273. The vaccine is still in its early stage trial phase, but is expected to begin mid-stage testing by the second quarter. 

Shares of MRNA hit a record high of $56.38 on Apr. 21, following a bull gap brought on by news its mRNA-1273 vaccine received millions in funding. The security has cooled since this high, though the $45 region has emerged as support. For the year, the security is still up over 136%. Plus, MRNA just came off its best month on record, tacking on 53.6% in April. 

A look at analyst sentiment shows the majority in coverage are optimistic on Moderna. Seven consider it a "buy" or better, while just one says "hold." Meanwhile, the consensus 12-month price target of $46.90 is a mere 2% premium to last night's close. 

Since we last covered MRNA, short interest is still on the rise, up 1% in the last reporting period. The 23.88 million shares sold short represent almost 12% of the stock's available float now, and would take 1.5 days to cover at the equity's average pace of trading. 

In the options pits, bearish sentiment is unusually high, too. While calls are still outnumbering puts at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), MRNA's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.45 sits in the 98th percentile of its annual range. This means long puts have rarely been more popular in the past 12 months. 

The shares of Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) are trading at new record highs, up 28.2% at $85.52, after its COVID-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273, produced antibodies in all 45 participants during its early-stage human trial. The news has injected Wall Street with an extreme amount of optimism, as the company looks to move on to late-stage trials. 

Moderna's role as a front runner in the race to cure the coronavirus has more than tripled the stock's value this year, up 318% at last check. Today's surge puts MRNA well above its recent $68 ceiling where the shares consolidated last week after hitting an all-time high of $68.49 on Tuesday, May 12. Now, the stock is eyeing its biggest one-month jump ever, up 80% in May, so far. 

There is already an ample amount of optimism surrounding Moderna stock. Of the nine analysts in coverage, eight consider it a "buy" or better, with one saying "hold." Plus, Piper Sandler just chimed in with a price-target hike to $102 from $57. There's certainly the possibility of more members of the brokerage bunch following Piper Sandler's lead, too. The consensus 12-month price target of $73.10 still sits at a 12.2% discount to current levels.

Naturally, options players are also wanting to get in on the action today. So far, 52,000 calls and 23,000 puts have crossed the tape, which is five times the intraday average. The most popular position is the weekly 5/22 100-strike call, with positions being opened here. This means these traders are expecting even more upside for the underlying stock by the time these contracts expire this Friday, May 22. 

A look back, however, shows that options players have been unusually bearish. This is per MRNA's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.41 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which sits in the 93rd percentile of its annual range. Echoing this, Moderna's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.79 is higher than all but 10% of all other readings from the last year, implying short-term options traders have rarely been more put-biased.