What happened
Shares of Party City Holdco (PRTY -60.00%) jumped as much as 17.4% in trading Friday as more good news was released about a COVID-19 vaccine. Shares closed the day up 10% and are getting near a 52-week high.
So what
Pfizer today became the first company to apply for Emergency Use Authorization on its COVID-19 vaccine, and entertainment stocks responded positively as a result. This follows news yesterday that AstraZeneca's vaccine has a positive response from older adults.
Image source: Getty Images.
This news isn't exactly surprising, but it starts the clock on when people can begin getting the vaccine, and we could see tens of millions of people in the U.S. vaccinated by the end of the first quarter of 2020. In theory, that should allow for more gatherings, which would in turn be good for Party City's operating results.
Now what
There's no real difference in the health environment or in the operating condition of Party City today than there was yesterday, so I don't see a reason to change your investment thesis. But the more data we get about vaccines, the more positive investors seem to be that the pandemic will quickly be put in check. That may be the case, but it'll be many months before a consumer discretionary business like Party City gets back to anything like normal.
