What happened
This week has started off badly for several COVID-19 vaccine stocks. Shares of Pfizer (PFE 0.23%) were sliding 3.9% as of 10:57 a.m. ET on Monday. Pfizer's partner, BioNTech (BNTX 0.55%), was getting hit even harder with its stock falling 8.3%. Shares of rival Moderna (MRNA 3.28%) were sinking 12.24%. Novavax (NVAX 2.95%) shares were slipping 8.6%.
Why were these vaccine stocks declining? The sell-off appears to be related to the news on Friday afternoon that Pfizer and BioNTech were extending their rolling submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for their COVID-19 vaccine in children ages 6 months through 4 years.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Investors were obviously disappointed by the delay in potential authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in younger kids. It's not surprising that shares of Pfizer and BioNTech would trade a little lower.
But why would Moderna and Novavax stocks also fall? Vaccine stocks often move higher or lower in tandem -- whether warranted or not.
In this case, it appears that the decline for Novavax really isn't justified. The company even had good news today. Singapore announced that it granted interim authorization to the company's COVID-19 vaccine, NVX-CoV2373. Novavax also revealed that it has filed for conditional market authorization of its vaccine in Switzerland.
Some investors could be worried about Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel selling some of his shares last week and deleting his Twitter account on the following day. However, Bancel has been selling some of his stock on a regular basis for months. He still owns more than 7.6% of Moderna. It's unknown why Bancel deleted his Twitter account, but he hasn't been very active on the social media platform in quite a while.
There's also a pretty good case to be made that the declines for Pfizer and BioNTech were an overreaction. The companies will still likely secure U.S. EUA for their COVID-19 vaccine in younger kids but will do so a little later than anticipated.
Now what
Pfizer and BioNTech expect to have results from a third dose of their vaccine in younger children available in early April. The companies should then be in a position to move forward with their rolling EUA submission to the FDA.
Meanwhile, Moderna and Novavax have potential catalysts on the way that are unrelated to any news from Pfizer and BioNTech. Moderna is scheduled to provide its 2021 fourth-quarter update on Feb. 24. Novavax awaits an FDA decision on EUA for its COVID-19 vaccine after officially requesting authorization on Jan. 31.
