Cowen Starts Novavax (NVAX) at Outperform, Analyst Sees Company as Positioned to Succeed

Cowen analyst Georgi Yordanov initiated research coverage on Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) with an Outperform rating and a $150.00 per share price target.

The analyst sees an eventual post-pandemic annual vaccination market for Novavax, which makes it well-positioned to succeed.

“We believe that similar to other pandemic respiratory viral pathogens, the likelihood that SARS-CoV-2 can be completely eradicated is increasingly small. As we struggle to reach herd immunity – even despite the highly infectious Omicron variant – we believe over the next few years there is still a high likelihood that new variants will emerge able to re-infect the population. Therefore, as we describe in more detail within this report, we believe that given the waning antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and the high mutagenicity of the virus, it is likely annual immunizations might be needed to achieve optimum protection against the disease,” Yordanov said in a client note.

The analyst also noted that the company is developing an influenza/coronavirus combination vaccine with data from the Phase I/II NanoFlu/’2373 trial in Q1:2022.

“We believe Novavax is uniquely positioned to be first-to-market with a safe and effective combination vaccine. While we do not include this combination option in our model, if successfully developed, we believe it could potentially allow Novavax to achieve dominance not only in an annual endemic COVID-19 market but also in the seasonal influenza market, which could provide significant upside to our estimates,” Yordanov added.

Novavax stock price is down 2.1% today.

By Senad Karaahmetovic | [email protected]

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