Analyst Thomas Shrader from BTIG maintained a Buy rating on Novavax (NVAX – Research Report) and keeping the price target at $19.00.
Thomas Shrader has given his Buy rating due to a combination of factors, primarily focusing on the promising results from Novavax’s SHIELD-Utah study. The study highlights the tolerability advantages of Novavax’s protein-antigen plus Matrix-M adjuvant approach compared to current mRNA vaccines. Patients receiving the Novavax vaccine experienced significantly fewer negative symptoms than those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine, which is particularly important as the focus shifts to vaccinating older and at-risk populations.
Moreover, the potential for combining Novavax’s Covid vaccine with high-dose flu vaccines could represent a significant upside for the company, especially as these combinations are currently being tested by partner Sanofi. Although full approval for the Novavax Covid vaccine is still pending, the expectation is that the benefits demonstrated in recent data will aid in resolving any outstanding issues. Additionally, the broader context of vaccine hesitancy and ongoing studies by the CDC on unrelated vaccine concerns are factors that could influence the vaccine market, but the current outlook for Novavax remains positive.