Rising Players in the World of Stocks: Novavax and Moderna

Rising Players in the World of Stocks: Novavax and Moderna As the world struggles with the pandemic, and researches continue to develop an effective vaccine, it seems that the stock market is setting high hopes on Novavax, Moderna and other biotechnology companies working on Covid-19 vaccines, as the vaccine stocks is up by over 700% year-to-date. Novavax, a late-stage biotechnology company engaged in vaccine development has seen its stock surge by over 2,600% year to date, driven by its work on Covid-19 vaccines. The stock has returned about 200% since the end of 2018. The company’s vaccine candidate is currently in phase 2 trials. On the other hand; Moderna, a clinical-stage biotech that is carrying out phase 3 trials of a Covid-19 vaccine, has seen its stock rally 245% this year. The stock has returned about 325% since 2018. With these figures, investors are betting the urgent need to end the Covid-19 pandemic will translate into big profits for companies that successfully develop an effective and affordable vaccine. An indicative theme of Coronavirus Vaccine stocks - which includes a diverse set of U.S. listed pharma and biotech companies that are working on novel Coronavirus vaccines - is up by over 700% year-to-date, on an equally weighted basis, compared to the S&P 500 which has gained just about 9% over the same period. The theme remains up by about 135% since the end of 2018, versus about 40% for the S&P. Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) has been the biggest driver of the theme’s returns, rising by over 2600% year-to-date. On the other side, Pfizer stock is down about 2% this year. Pfizer: the pharma major which is working with Germany’s BioNTech on a Covid-19 vaccine is down by -2% year-to-date. The stock is also down by about -8% since 2018, and the third phase testing for the vaccine began in the U.S. in July. Also Johnson & Johnson, the diversified pharma behemoth is working on a Covid-19 candidate, which began phase 1 trials in July. The stock is up by about 7% year-to-date and is up by about 24% since 2018. The promising early results from its trials have allowed Novavax to obtain $2 billion in funding for its vaccine development efforts. Thus, investors focus on Novavax's clinical-trial results as the company is expected to share interim data from its phase 2 trial in the fourth quarter.   You might also be interested in:

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