Vaccine Stocks: Here’s Why Moderna and BioNTech Are Passing the Competition


by Julia Groß, Euro am Sonntag

DThe US FDA has approved a fourth dose of their Covid vaccines for Moderna, BioNTech and Pfizer. The second booster is recommended for everyone over the age of 50; the interval between the third dose and the dose should be at least four months. The European EMA will probably follow a similar path: the EU health ministers spoke out in favor of a recommendation for those over 60 and those with previous illnesses.

This opens up new earnings prospects for vaccine manufacturers, although it is difficult to estimate how many people will actually be vaccinated again in the end. In the USA, for example, the rate of infection is currently very low, so the target group may not be in too much of a hurry with the next booster. In Europe, too, many want to wait for an Omicron-adapted vaccine. BioNTech and Pfizer want to present the first data on this in April.

Curevac started the first clinical study with the second generation vaccine, which is being developed in cooperation with GlaxoSmithKline. However, investors apparently used the news to take profits after the recent price gains. Novavax and Valneva ended the week in the red. A protein vaccine from Spain could soon be approved in the EU and compete with the two companies.

Notice of Conflicts of Interest:
The majority owner of the sole shareholder of Finanzen Verlag GmbH, Mr. Bernd Förtsch, has taken direct and indirect positions on the following financial instruments mentioned in the publication or related derivatives that can benefit from any price development resulting from the publication: BioNTech, Curevac, GlaxoSmithKline , Novavax, Pfizer, Valneva.


INVESTOR INFO

The American pharma giant’s stock is up around 50 percent over the past year and still trades at a ridiculously low 2023 P/E ratio of around 10. Analysts doubt whether Pfizer can continue the strong growth. That is of course difficult after a record year like 2021. On the other hand, the group’s forecast was very conservative, for example it only included the orders for Paxlovid, the antiviral corona pill, received up to January. With the increasing number of infections in China, there is likely to be a lot more to come. Further acquisitions and cooperations are also to be expected. Buy.

The stocks of small and medium-sized biotech companies usually react with particularly strong price increases when successes in research and development are recorded. Conversely, the losses are also high when expectations are disappointed. Anyone interested in this segment can rely on the many years of expertise of the fund managers and analysts at Medical Strategy with Medical BioHealth. The biotech sector is currently in the deep red correction area. Valuations are cheap, offering a good entry level for aggressive long-term investors.

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Image sources: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images, Ascannio / Shutterstock.com, Finanzen Verlag


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