Cantor Fitzgerald Initiates Coverage on Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX)

Key Points

• Cantor Fitzgerald has initiated coverage of Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) with an "overweight" rating and a price target of $18.00, indicating a potential upside of 115.31% from its current price.
• The consensus rating for Novavax is currently "Hold," with four analysts recommending a buy, while four have issued sell ratings and one a hold.
• Novavax reported a quarterly EPS of $0.62, exceeding expectations, but showed a 42.4% decline in year-over-year revenue.

Equities researchers at Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX - Get Free Report) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday. The brokerage set an "overweight" rating and a $18.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company's stock. Cantor Fitzgerald's price target would suggest a potential upside of 115.31% from the stock's current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Novavax in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. HC Wainwright raised their target price on Novavax from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America reiterated an "underperform" rating and set a $7.00 price target (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Novavax in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $11.33.

Novavax Trading Down 1.2%

NASDAQ NVAX opened at $8.36 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 2.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93. Novavax has a 52 week low of $5.01 and a 52 week high of $11.55. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $8.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.41. The company has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.11 and a beta of 2.74.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.69. Novavax had a net margin of 39.20% and a negative return on equity of 142.33%. The business had revenue of $239.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $149.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. Novavax's quarterly revenue was down 42.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Novavax will post -1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novavax

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Novavax by 16.4% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 50,738 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 7,165 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Novavax by 4.1% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 454,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $2,913,000 after buying an additional 17,981 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in Novavax in the first quarter worth $290,000. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Novavax by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 168,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,077,000 after buying an additional 84,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Novavax in the first quarter worth about $99,000. 53.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Novavax

Novavax, Inc, a biotechnology company, that promotes improved health by discovering, developing, and commercializing vaccines to protect against serious infectious diseases. It offers vaccine platform that combines a recombinant protein approach, nanoparticle technology, and its patented Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance the immune response.

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