- Pfizer stock price leaped on November 05 amid positive results from a phase 3 study of its COVID-19 pill
- Pfizer beat its forecast for Coronavirus vaccine sales this year.
- Pfizer growth expected to continue in the fourth quarter.
The Pfizer stock price rallied approximately 11% on November 05 after data from a large-scale study of its Covid 19 pill, ritonavir (an antiviral drug), showed that it could reduce hospitalization rates and risk of death by up to 89% in taken in early stages of disease.
The Pfizer study involved 1,219 non-hospitalized unvaccinated adults with mild-to-moderate Covid at risk of severe disease. The data was collected from phase 2 and 3 clinical studies. The patients took the drug withing three days of symptoms appearing. After 28 days, 0.8% of the patients who took the drug were hospitalized compared with 7% of those on a placebo. No death was reported in the medicated patients but 10 of those of the placebo died.
Pfizer has also won authorization of its pediatric Covid-19 vaccine in the US for children aged between 5-11 years. The vaccine is a third of the dosage that adults and older children receive. In the meantime, the FDA is yet to authorize Moderna’s rival vaccine in teenagers pending results of the investigation regarding side effects of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine such heart inflammation. Note that Pfizer’s vaccine for the children is also an mRNA jab.
Pfizer Stock Price Technical Analysis
The Pfizer stock bounced off its 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) at $43.34 on November 02 rallying 7% to a high of $45.05. This upswing saw the PFE stock flip its 50-day SMA from resistance to support and remained there till close of business on Monday 05. At the moment, PFE is bullish as it sits well above the 50-, 100- and 200-day SMAs.
PFE/USD Daily Chart
In addition, the sharp upward movement of the Relative Strength Index (RSI ) and its position at 73.06 is an indication that the current bullish momentum for the Pfizer Stock price is strong. Its entry into the overbought region suggests that the PFE price is in the hands of the buyers and that the price is expected to increase in the near term.
Moreover, the SupertTrend sent a buy signal on October 29 and flipped below the price. This points to a bullish marker momentum and as long as the SuperTrend indicator remains below the price, Pfizer stock price is expected to continue the uptrend.
So are there more reasons to buy Pfizer stock now?
Positive Pfizer Stock Fundamentals To Increase Investor Appetite
The adjusted Pfizer earnings per stock were $1.34 during the third quarter, surging a massive 129% from the same period last year. The sales soared $24.09, surging 134% over the same time frame. Bothe measures were more that what analysists had predicted.
The surge in sales is mainly attributed to pharmaceutical firm’s Covid vaccine which brought in approximately $12.98 billion in sales.
Sales from the company’s other products such as Eliquis (a blood thinner), Ibrance (a breast cancer drug) and Prevnar (a pneumonia vaccine) were all less than forecasted.
On the downside, sales of Xeljanz (an inflammatory drug) dropped by 7% to$610 million. This could have been due to the recent FDA requirement that Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies should add warning labels to Xeljanz and other drugs in their class. This is because testing results reveal that patients taking these drugs are vulnerable to increased risk of cancer, blood clots, hear-related conditions and even death.
Moreover, Pfizer’s recall of the Chantix drug led to a 97% slump in its sales to just $7 million. The drug was recalled due to higher levels of a possible cancer-causing substance.
Overall, the company’s growth as illustrated by quarter three results are expected to increase investors’ appetite for the Pfizer stock. However, it is worth noting that the company’s sales grew by only 7% operationally if the Covid vaccine sales are excluded.
With news of the positive results of the company’s Covid 19 pill, Ritonavir and the authorization of their pediatric Covid vaccine, the company’s growth is expected to continue in the fourth quarter.
Pfizer’s Positive Results Weight Heavily On Its Competitors
If you were planning buy the Biontech Stock be aware that its price plunged 19.8% on Friday after the good news from Pfizer (PFE). This is due to the belief that the availability of other COVID pill that is deemed more effective could hurt the demand for vaccines. Last month, Merc announced that their Covid pill cut hospitalization rates and death risks by 50%. Patients were monitored after beginning the molnupiravir regimen within five days of symptoms beginning. Apart from Biontech, Novavax and Moderna shares also plunged on Friday.
However, the fear that the development of the Covid pill could hurt the sale of vaccines may not hold. This is because governments are unlikely to slow down on their vaccination plans just because oral drugs are now available. In addition, Covid pills are expected to be more expensive that vaccines. For example, at the moment, the US government pays around $700 per treatment program using the Covid pill from Merc. Contrastingly, it only costs the government $19.50 for a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
So is it Time to Buy PFE Stock?
It is hard to declare with certainty that it is good time to buy the Pfizer stock. However, it is worth keeping in mind that the company is expected to post a bullish growth during the fourth quarter, but that mostly depends on its Covid vaccine and related products.
It would be good to keep your eye on the performance of the Pfizer stock as it develops a Covid vaccine in partnership with BioNTech. The preliminary results are promising so far, however, it would be interesting to see how the Pharmaceutical giant deals with the resistance threat posed by the delta variant.
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