Four vaccine company stocks expected to rise

Behind the vaccines are four main manufacturers: AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna. These latter two are the most demanded by the countries of the European Union, which has slowed down the purchases of the other two to prioritize the vaccines of the two American companies, which were the first to announce the creation of the vaccine last November.

Moderna is the company that has benefited the most on the stock market, rising 297 percent in twelve months. Thus, the company has gone from trading at 74 dollars (62,78 euros) to 320 dollars (271 euros). This means that whoever invested 1000 euros in July 2020 will now have 4316 euros thanks to its meteoric rise.

Shares of Moderna jumped 7,8 percent to a record high on Friday after European health officials recommended authorizing the vaccine for children from the age of 12 and older. The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use adopted a positive outlook on Moderna’s vaccine, despite warnings from medical professionals. The European Commission will now consider granting authorization for use in adolescents.

“As we help to combat the pandemic, we hope to be able to help get adolescents safely back to school this fall,” Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a press release. The US government is co-patent holder of Moderna through the National Institutes of Health, which is a clear conflict of interest.

Calls for booster shots against “variants” are also growing louder and these potential new authorizations for Moderna’s product could provide a significant boost to the company’s revenue and profits in the coming quarters.

Far behind is Pfizer, with an increase of 17,9 percent in the last twelve months. The company, which has a market valuation higher than Moderna by 100 000 million dollars (85 000 million euros), has gone from trading at 35,8 dollars (30,37 euros) to 41,36 dollars (35,09). In this case, whoever invested 1000 euros will now have 1155 euros.

But Pfizer, allied to the BioNTech laboratory, announced a 92 percent increase in its quarterly turnover compared to the previous year, reaching almost $19 billion. Its quarterly net profit increased by 59 percent.

For its part, Johnson & Johnson, the largest of the four companies with a valuation four times higher than Moderna and twice higher than Pfizer, has risen to 13,2 percent in the last twelve months.

AstraZeneca is the only company of the four that has lost on the stock market in the last year. The British concern has been surpassed by Moderna in terms of valuation. But 21 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for AstraZeneca PLC have estimated a 15,35 percent increase.