Novavax, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) has huge market gains and is up over 15% in just the last couple of days. This is in line with some biotech companies who saw a strong movement because of the news to combat the Wuhan Coronavirus.
Noravax Coronavirus Vaccine News
Yesterday Novavax announced significant progress on the development of a vaccine to protect against Wuhan Coronavirus, known as COVID-19. In the release, the company said that many candidates had made multiple nanoparticule vaccine candidates—these candidates in animal models are the best method to move to human testing.
In the release, Novavax said they expect to start a human test in the spring of this year. The company’s candidates were created using the proprietary nanoparticle protein technology platform. The platform was used to generate antigens generated from coronavirus spike (S) protein.
Novax has previous experience of working with other emerging viruses, including both Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV), and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
In a statement, Stanley C. Erck, President and CEO of NVAX offered the following items:
“Now that the protein has been expressed stably in our baculovirus system, we aim to identify the optimal candidate and scale up production of sufficient vaccine for preliminary clinical trials. We are now well-positioned to advance the COVID-19 vaccine candidate to Phase I clinical testing in May or June.”
Why Investors Are Sending NVAX Higher
To date, Novavax appears to be runner-up in the race to develop the vaccine for the coronavirus. Currently, Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) is the first company and the only company that announces human trials on the COVID-19 prospective vaccine. However, NVAX is the first person to advertise animal testing among the rest of the competitors.
Taking this into account, the Novavax is progressing to develop a vaccine. Moreover, the company said that human testing is expected to start in the spring. So the company is not far behind MRNA.
If the Novavx develops an effective vaccine, it is a big win. After all, the COVID-19 virus is a highly contagious agent focused on the media. Because of this, there is likely to be a great demand for such a vaccine.
In the case of a company with a market ceiling of $325 million, second place in this race is huge. Therefore investors should pay attention to future NVAX.
NVAX Wall Street Pricing
Nov-27-19 Resumed B. Riley FBR Buy $12
Aug-14-19 Reiterated H.C. Wainwright Buy $10 → $17
Feb-28-19 Downgrade Piper Jaffray Overweight → Underweight $4.50 → $0.25
Dec-18-18 Initiated Ladenburg Thalmann Buy $3
Dec-11-18 Initiated Oppenheimer Outperform $4
Nov-26-18 Upgrade Piper Jaffray Neutral → Overweight
Sep-21-18 Upgrade JP Morgan Underweight → Overweight
Mar-29-18 Upgrade Seaport Global Securities Neutral → Buy $5
Mar-19-18 Downgrade JP Morgan Neutral → Underweight
Mar-01-18 Upgrade Citigroup Neutral → Buy
Jan-05-18 Initiated B. Riley FBR, Inc. Buy $2.25
Dec-19-17 Downgrade Citigroup Buy → Neutral
Oct-31-17 Upgrade Citigroup Neutral → Buy
Aug-09-17 Upgrade Ladenburg Thalmann Neutral → Buy
Sep-20-16 Reiterated Chardan Capital Markets Neutral $5.75 → $1.50
Sep-16-16 Reiterated FBR & Co. Outperform $17 → $12
Sep-16-16 Downgrade Wedbush Outperform → Neutral $14 → $2
Sep-16-16 Downgrade Piper Jaffray Overweight → Neutral
Sep-16-16 Downgrade Ladenburg Thalmann Buy → Neutral
Sep-16-16 Downgrade JP Morgan Overweight → Neutral
NVAX 1 Day Moving Averages
Name Value Action
Exponential Moving Average (5) 23.32 Buy
Simple Moving Average (5) 21.66 Buy
Exponential Moving Average (10) 21.72 Buy
Simple Moving Average (10) 20.32 Buy
Exponential Moving Average (20) 21.01 Buy
Simple Moving Average (20) 20.73 Buy
Exponential Moving Average (30) 20.72 Buy
Simple Moving Average (30) 20.90 Buy
Exponential Moving Average (50) 20.24 Buy
Simple Moving Average (50) 20.16 Buy
Exponential Moving Average (100) 19.27 Buy
Simple Moving Average (100) 18.83 Buy
Exponential Moving Average (200) 18.84 Buy
Simple Moving Average (200) 17.45 Buy
Ichimoku Cloud Base Line (9, 26, 52, 26) 23.95 Neutral
Volume Weighted Moving Average (20) 24.03 Buy
Hull Moving Average (9) 23.71 Buy
