STOCKS TELEGRAPH

Tag: COVID-19

  • Novavax, Inc. (NVAX) Stock on the Rise Following Massive Success of PREVENT-19 Study

    Novavax, Inc. (NVAX) Stock on the Rise Following Massive Success of PREVENT-19 Study

    Novavax, Inc. (NVAX) stock prices were up by a marginal 2.31% as of the market closing on June 11th, 2021, bringing the price per share up to USD$209.68 at the end of the trading day. Subsequent pre-market fluctuations have seen the stock surge by 6.57%, bringing it up to USD$223.45.

    Success of PREVENT-19

    The company announced a massively positive outcome for NVX-CoV2373, demonstrating 100% protection against moderate and severe forms of the disease. The treatment also reported an overall efficacy of 90.4% and met its primary endpoint in the PREVENT-19 pivotal Phase 3 trial. The study consisted of a total of 29,960 participants, spanning 119 sites across Mexico and the U.S. The study was designed to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity of the treatment, with an emphasis on representation in the recruitment of communities and demographic groups most impacted by the disease.

    Treatment Poised to Proliferate

    With the world hurtling towards global immunizations as the global coronavirus pandemic continues to take its toll on economies, Novavax is closer to addressing the critical and persistent global public health need. The company continues to work at full capacity to facilitate the completion of regulatory submissions and deliver the vaccine. NVAX has secured a well understood platform with an established track record, through which they will facilitate the provision of the much needed vaccines.

    Next Steps for NVAX

    NVAX anticipates filing for regulatory authorizations in the third quarter of 2021, following the completion of the final phases of process qualification and assay validation needed to meet chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) requirements. Following the approval, the company will see growth to a manufacturing capacity of 100 million doses per month by the end of the third quarter of 2021. The end of the fourth quarter is expected to mark the ramping up of manufacturing capacity to 150 million doses a month.

    Government Support

    PREVENT-19 has consolidated the tolerability and safety profile of NVX-CoV2373, with data having shown consistent, high levels of efficacy and reaffirm the treatment’s capability to prevent Covid-19 as increasing variants of the virus proliferate international communities. To this end, the treatment has received support from the U.S government, including the DoD, BARDA, parts of the HHS, the NIAID, and more. As per a DoD agreement, BARDA will provide NVAX with USD$1.75 billion.

    Future Outlook for NVAX

    Armed with the fortuitous surge in the value of their equity, NVAX is poise to push for the commercialization and proliferation of its proprietary treatment. The company is keen to continue its trajectory of success and usher in more organic growth over the long-term. Current and potential investors are hopeful that the management will leverage the resources at their disposal to facilitate significant and sustained increases in shareholder value.

  • Novavax Inc’s (NVAX) shares thundered in the early hours this morning

    Novavax Inc’s (NVAX) stock was up 1.73% to trade at $125.6 in the premarket session today, despite the recent news that the company has again delayed the launch of a U.S.-based, late-stage trial for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine and now plans it to launch next weak instead of November.

    Although difficulties in gearing up the development of the vaccine have delayed the U.S. trial, Novavax has a late-stage study ongoing in the U.K. that concluded enrollment on Monday.

    However, analysts have said that more than one vaccine will be needed to end the pandemic that has killed over 1.4 million people worldwide.

    Duncan added that Novavax expects preliminary results from the U.K. trial in the first quarter of 2021 and may also seek global clearance in the United States and the United Kingdom following the initial data.

    The business plans to use privately manufactured vaccine material for the trial in the United States and Mexico and has collaborated extensively with the United States.

    In the first quarter of next year, the effectiveness evidence from that study will also be available.

  • Qantas announced 2nd huge layoffs plan this year

    Qantas announced 2nd huge layoffs plan this year

    In an attempt to limit its financial losses, Qantas will outsource more than 2,000 ground staff roles. The job losses come on top of 6,000 layoffsitrevealed earlier this year by Australia’s flagship carrier.

    Due to Covid-19 and border constraints, Qantas announced a $2bn loss in August.Unfortunately, the domestic and international chief executive of the airline, Covid has turned aviation upside down.

    Andrew David, the domestic and international chief executive of the airline, stated “Covid has turned aviation upside down”.

    “World-wide airlines must make dramatic choices to survive and it takes years for their damage to repair,” he added.

    Qantas expects to save about $74 million annually by moving to third-party suppliers rather than managing its own ground services, based on pre-covid flying levels. By avoiding new investment on ground handling equipment such as aircraft tugs and luggage loaders, it also plans to save $59m over five years.

    The workers affected will be eligible for a redundancy plan and will receive assistance for the transition to the new jobs, the airline said.

    Meanwhile, there seems to be some positive news for the recovery of the airline, with domestic flights beginning to recover as state governments loosen restrictions on interstate travel.

    Yet Qantas continues to expect tough times ahead, with more losses next year due to a $7.4billion decline in sales. It is not planned to fly abroad until late 2021, with the possibility of a possible New Zealand travel bubble.

    In order to keep going, the airline has also taken on an estimated $1.1 billion debt. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasts that this and next year, airlines worldwide are on track to lose $157bn. Passenger numbers are projected to drop from 4.5bn in 2019 to 1.8bn this year. IATA says those figures will only partly rebound to 2.8bn next year.

  • Atossa Therapeutics, Inc. (ATOS) provides promising findings from the Phase 1 Clinical Trial of AT-301 Nasal Spray for COVID-19

    Atossa Therapeutics, Inc. (ATOS) provides promising findings from the Phase 1 Clinical Trial of AT-301 Nasal Spray for COVID-19

    Atossa Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATOS) a biotech giant with a focus on breast cancer and COVID-19, today announced blinded results from its Phase 1 clinical trial using Atossa ‘s patented AT-301, delivered through a nasal spray.

    In this study, AT-301 was found to be safe and well-received at two different dose levels over 14 days, in both single and multiple-dose formulations. For patients experiencing symptoms with COVID-19, AT-301 is being created to be used at home. In order to treat COVID-19 at home, there are currently no FDA-approved therapies.

    Atossa helps to determine potential collaborators who are designing diagnostic tests for COVID-19 so that AT-301 nasal spray can be co-developed and promoted with the purpose of making accessible AT-301 therapy when a person shows symptoms and test positive for the coronavirus.

    Atossa plans to further improve its nasal spray to prevent infection with COVID-19, specifically for all of those living in high-risk environments such as COVID-19 infected patients, health care workers, and emergency respondents and teachers.

    Although some manufacturers are still developing a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, Atossa considers that therapies such as AT-301 provide a major market opportunity. The production and availability of conventional vaccines can also take years. Surveys have found that when a conventional vaccine is initially available, many people would not receive a vaccine 100%, particularly if multiple types of Coronavirus appear.

    The stock of the Healthcare sector started trading yesterday at $1.33. During the session, it climbed to $1.49 and dropped to $1.25 before closing at the price of $1.36. The stock with a market capitalization of $14.47M had a volume of 280.54 k.

  • US presidential change signals risk appetite as Brent crude hits $40

    US presidential change signals risk appetite as Brent crude hits $40

    Crude prices increased on Monday, with Brent hitting a point of $40 a barrel after Joe Biden took up the presidency of the United States and signals a rise in risk appetite.

    The crude Brent LCOc1 had risen to 40.36 dollars per barrel by 91cents, or 2.3 percent, whereas the USA West Texas Intermediate Oil CLc1 was at $38.04, up 90 cents, or 2.4%.

    The crude Brent LCOc1 had risen to 40.36 dollars per barrel by 91cents, or 2.3 percent, whereas the USA West Texas Intermediate Oil CLc1 was at $38.04, up 90 cents, or 2.4%.

    According to Analyst, oil prices rose, gaining from a risk-on position and a weaker US dollar led by Joe Biden becoming president-elect.

    In order to discuss the No. 1 issue, he is facing when he assumes office in January, Biden will hold a meeting with a coronavirus task force on Monday. Renewed lockdown measures in Europe aimed at containing an increase in COVID-19 cases continue to put oil prices under pressure.

    Besides that, as investors holding other currencies became more accessible, the dollar weakened, entering a 10-week low and lifting commodities priced in the greenback.

    The core personnel of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is skeptical of Biden’s easing measures on Iran and Venezuela, which could make it extremely challenging to balance supply with demand by increasing oil production.

    The restoration of Iranian oil supplies, nevertheless, is more likely to arise at the end of 2021 or 2022, ING analysts said.

    Compared to September, China, the world’s biggest crude importer, posted a 12 percent decrease in October imports.

    OCBC’s Lee said that this data could be pessimistic for international commodity markets:

    “China may be close to the end of what it needs in the form of raw materials given the number of stocks it has.”

    That being said, after Beijing raised quotas by 20 percent, some experts predict imports to spike in 2021.

  • Airbnb Inc is going public next week despite intense 2nd wave of Coronavirus

    Airbnb Inc is going public next week despite intense 2nd wave of Coronavirus

    Airbnb Inc said that it’s going for IPO public registration next week, making December debut on New York Stock market despite the COVID-19, 2nd wave is getting worst.

    The planned Debut on Nasdaq will be one of the largest stock market listing in 2020 during increased high demand for house rentals as vacationers to practice social distancing

    Airbnb’s initial public offering filing will explain its business model to the outsiders as the company moved its focus from city apartments to holidays home due to pandemic. The time for a public offering is critical as the U.S. set a one-day record for new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, with at least 102,591 new infections reported.

    Airbnb plans to kick off an investor roadshow in December, providing a price range for its IPO but timing is subjected to the pandemic conditions as well. It was reported by different sources that the company wants to raise $3 billion through the listing and looking for a valuation of more than $30 billion in the IPO.

    Due to a hung Congress, Government would not be able to raise taxes which has brought down the volatility index hit a two-week low and making IPO listings easy.

    2020 is a huge year for the IPOs where many companies went public such as Warner Music Group, data analytics firm Palantir Technologies and data warehouse company Snowflake Inc this year.

    Airbnb did a dramatic recovery after securing emergency funding from investors including Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners after the pandemic started in March. The company said that customers had booked more than one million nights in a single day for the first time since March 3

    Booking Holdings which is used as a conservative public market proxy for its stock by some Airbnb investors have gained more than 50% in the past eight months.

  • GeoVax Labs (NASDAQ: GOVX) Stock Is Soaring. Here’s Why

    GeoVax Labs (NASDAQ: GOVX) Stock Is Soaring. Here’s Why

    Shares of GeoVax Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOVX) kicked off Monday’s session with an increase of 23.36% in its share prices. The strong performance of the company highlighted the positive sentiments of the investor after the company announced that it has signed a license agreement with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to support the COVID-19 vaccine development.

    The Patent and Biological Materials License Agreement will give access to NIAID’s patent rights in the stabilized SPIKE protein to GeoVax.  SPIKE protein is the protein that is used by SARS-CoV-2 to enter the human tissue. This new agreement with NIAID will give GeoVax rights to manufacture, develop, and commercialize its COVID-19 vaccine.

    GeoVax Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOVX) shares were trading up 23.36% at $3.75 at the time of writing on Monday. GeoVax Labs, Inc. (GOVX) share price went from a low point around $2.30 to briefly over $92.00 in the past 52 weeks. It has traded up 62.76% from its 52-weeks low and moved down -95.92% from its 52-weeks low. GOVX market cap has remained high, hitting $10.79 million at the time of writing. It had a trading volume of 14.67 million as compared to the average volume of 134.56K.

    After signing an agreement with NIAID, GeoVax will be able to use the materials and patent rights owned by agencies of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This is an important agreement for GeoVax in the current development of its COVID-19 vaccine. The company has designed and constructed four COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

    Additionally, GeoWax continues to actively discuss additional funding support. The company is striving to secure the necessary manufacturing resources to advance medical development as soon as possible.

  • Google Announces Updates To Make Google Search Work Better

    Google Announces Updates To Make Google Search Work Better

    Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) has announced that it has decided to make a number of improvements in its core search engine to improve the experience of users. The company is planning to use AI to provide a seamless experience to its users by answering their questions with very specific answers. Google aimed to better handle the broad questions of users and typos in their queries.

    In the past 22 years, Google has made tremendous progress and always tried to make Google Search better for users every day. With the emergence of new technological advancements and the evolution of AI, Google strive to bring the AI in its products to execute its mission to organize the world’s information and make it accessible universally and useful.

    Some of the new updates of Google will really be helpful and some updates will only be for fun, but all are aimed at providing the best search result to the user. Google Search is already using the AI-based Algorithm to improve the search results but the company is trying to improve its more.

    Google disclosed that 1 in 10 searches every day are misspelled but the ‘Did You Mean’ generator is already doing a good job. But the company revealed that it is launching a new spelling algorithm to improve its ability to detect what the user is really searching for and will provide the result in just 3 milliseconds. This single change will make an improvement in spelling. This will be the greatest achievement of the company over the course of the last five years.

    Google Search also improved in a way that it will now provide the user-specific paragraphs or segments of video they are searching for. Sometimes the single sentence that solves the query of the user might be ranked in the deep web pages. But now Google has made improvements and announced that it will not only index web pages but also index individual passages from web pages. This new update of Google will improve the 7% of search queries across all languages as it launched it out globally.

    It has also made improvements in navigation so that things will be executed in a better way. Its Live busyness updates help people to know the busy places so that they can social distance themselves. It has also added a new feature of the Live view. Google has also planned to add COVID-19 safety information front and center on Business Profiles across Google Search and Maps.

    Alphabet Inc. has also announced that it is testing new technology in which it will use an AI-driven approach to better understand the semantics of videos and identify the important moments’ users are looking for. Google has also announced the updates in shopping features.

    If you don’t remember the song you just try to hum the song then Google will recognize it and will play for you.  The ‘hum to search’ feature will retrieve the song which was stuck in your mind.  Additionally, Google has also added new features in the search engine, Maps, and voice assistant to aid voters in the US to find their nearest voting locations.

     

  • Enlivex (NASDAQ: ENLV) Announces Positive Result Of Allocetra In COVID-19 Patients

    Enlivex (NASDAQ: ENLV) Announces Positive Result Of Allocetra In COVID-19 Patients

    Enlivex Therapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ: ENLV) has revealed today that the clinical trial of AllocetraTM has shown positive results in COVID-19 patients who were in critical condition. The company has conducted a clinical trial that included five patients, two patients were in critical condition and three patients were in severe condition. But following the treatment of Allocetra all the patients who were in critical and severe conditions were discharged from a hospital after an average of 5.5 days (severe) and 8.5 days (critical).

    The company has further disclosed that there were no severe adverse events were reported relating to the administration of AllocetraTM in the patients, and the therapy was well-tolerated. Other therapies such as plasma-based anti-bodies were used for the treatment of patients in moderate conditions while the company has treated COVID-19 patients who were in severe/critical condition with Allocetra.

    Enlivex Therapeutics Ltd. has believed that the treatment with Allocetra will fill the gap that currently exists in treating severe or critical COVID-19 patients. The biotechnology company revealed that it is planning to recruit more patients who are in severe/critical condition to further check the safety and efficacy of Allocetra after receiving regulatory approval.

    Enlivex Therapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ: ENLV) shares were trading up 21.22 % at $5.94 at the time of writing on Wednesday. Enlivex Therapeutics Ltd.’s share price went from a low point around $3.59 to briefly over $28.40 in the past 52 weeks, though shares have since pulled back to $5.94. It has moved up 65.46% from its 52-weeks low and moved down -79.08% from its 52-weeks high. ENLV market cap has remained high, hitting $78.23M at the time of writing.

    Head of the Critical Care Medicine Unit at Hadassah Hospital in Israel, and the lead investigator of both the COVID-19 trial and a recently-executed Phase Ib clinical trial of AllocetraTM in sepsis patients, Prof. Vernon van Heerden revealed that the candidate of Enlivex has the potential to treat the COVID-19 patients who are in critical or severe condition. Prof. Vernon said that the five patients with COVID-19 and 10 patients with sepsis have shown the encouraging results in the phase 1b study of Allocetra.

    Enlivex revealed that it is a great opportunity for the company to contribute towards effort aimed at controlling the spread of novel coronavirus. The company will continue its struggle to combat the spread of COVID-19. It is anticipated that the Phase IIb trial of Allocetra will commence in the fourth quarter of the company.

     

  • United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) Stock Is Plunging. Here’s Why

    United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) Stock Is Plunging. Here’s Why

    United Parcel Service, Inc (NYSE: UPS), a world’s largest package delivery company has held well through the pandemic but its share has tumbled down 4.68% after losing -7.76 on Thursday. UPS is known for its letter and package delivery, logistics, specialized transportation, and financial services. It delivers millions of packages around the world each day.

    United Service Parcel is continuously improving its logistics and strives to give customers flexibility and security. UPS is now open for business and continue with daily pickup and deliveries. As the pandemic has disrupted the various businesses around the world, UPS has also experienced the shock but it held well and continues to deliver worldwide where permitted.

    United Service Parcels’ main priority is to ensure the health and safety of its customers and workforce. It has implemented the constant monitoring of air and ground networks to address sources of disruption. COVID-19 has badly affected businesses like UPS but also increases the opportunities for many businesses as e-commerce growth increases.

    Shares of United Parcel Service went down 4.68% as it lost -7.76 on Thursday. In the past 52-weeks of trading, this company’s stock has oscillated between the low of $82.00 and a high of $166.20. UPS has moved up 92.71% from its 52-weeks low and moved down -4.92% from its 52-weeks high. If we look at its profitability, it has a return on assets, equity, and investment of 7.50%, 106.20%, and 23.10%, respectively. United Parcel Service market capitalization has remained high, hitting $134.62 billion at the time of writing. Focusing on its liquidity, it has a current ratio of 1.20.

    If we compare the sales of United Parcel Service of 2019 and 2020, it has generated $71.86 billion in sales. While in 2020 Q2, its sales rose 13% to $20.46 billion. Meanwhile, its earning increases by 9% to $2.13 per share. Its earnings beat analyst’s expectations because of increasing demand for e-commerce deliveries. United Parcel Service has spent more to adapt to e-commerce growth and implement new strategies that are helpful for the business.

    United Parcel Service has a major role in the fight against the pandemic as the government around the world has labeled it as an essential service provider. It has earlier experienced the hit because of the transition in its management. Earlier this year, its COO Jim Barber has announced his plan to resign from his position in December 2019.

    UPS’s main rival is FedEx but there are some major differences in their services. United Parcel Service’s main focus is retail customers and small businesses. They also offer some postal and shipping related services. UPS has a single pickup and delivery network and its competitive edge is its domestic ground delivery services. While its rival FedEx specialty is the rapid delivery of packages and time-sensitive mail. UPS stock is not currently providing a valid buy point.