Pfizer (PFE) and BioNTech SE have won a contract to supply European Union (EU) Member States with 300 million doses of their investigational BNT162b2 mRNA-based vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2.
“This is the most promising vaccine so far,” EC President Ursula von der Leyen commented in a statement. “Once this vaccine becomes available, our plan is to deploy it quickly, everywhere in Europe. This will be the fourth contract with a pharmaceutical company to buy vaccines. And more will come.”
The contract comes in the same week as Pfizer and BioNTech (BNTX) disclosed interim data, which demonstrated that their mRNA-based vaccine candidate is more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in subjects who had no evidence of a previous infection. Scientists had been hoping for a vaccine that was 75% effective, with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, previously noting a vaccine that was 50%-60% effective would be sufficient.
Pfizer is planning to submit an application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate in late November, its CEO Albert Bourla said earlier this month. If regulatory approval is obtained, the two drugmakers expect to produce up to 100 million vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021.
Shares of Pfizer are up almost 7% over the past five days, trimming their year-to-date decline to 1.3%. Meanwhile, the Wall Street analyst consensus currently rates the stock a cautiously optimistic Moderate Buy. That’s based on 4 Buys vs 8 Holds. The average analyst price target stands at $41.42, putting the upside potential at 7% over the next 12 months.
Despite the latest data release, JP Morgan analyst Chris Schott reiterated a Hold rating on the stock with a $36 price target, saying that he would not be “chasing PFE shares at current levels.”
“We believe PFE shares above $40 reflect a best-case scenario for the vaccine from a commercial standpoint (i.e., limited competition, endemic virus, sustained pricing),” Schott commented in a note to investors. “This comes despite a number of unknowns regarding the commercial market for COVID-19 vaccines (number of competitors, duration of efficacy, longer-term pricing, etc.).” (See Pfizer stock analysis on TipRanks)
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