Valneva (NASDAQ:VALN) Shares Gap Up Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Key Points

• Valneva SE shares gapped up from $8.50 to $9.12 after reporting better-than-expected earnings, with an EPS of ($0.16) compared to the consensus estimate of ($0.27).
• Despite recent positive earnings, Valneva has a negative return on equity of 43.05% and a negative net margin of 43.08%.
• Wells Fargo & Company recently increased its stake in Valneva shares by 14.3%, indicating growing institutional interest.

Shares of Valneva SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VALN - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $8.50, but opened at $9.12. Valneva shares last traded at $9.13, with a volume of 47,131 shares trading hands.

The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.11. Valneva had a negative return on equity of 43.05% and a negative net margin of 43.08%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VALN has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Valneva from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of Valneva in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Valneva

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Valneva stock. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in shares of Valneva SE Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VALN - Free Report) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 246,766 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 30,859 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.30% of Valneva worth $1,079,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 11.39% of the company's stock.

Valneva Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.12, a current ratio of 2.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm's 50-day moving average is $6.51 and its 200-day moving average is $6.62. The company has a market cap of $782.49 million, a PE ratio of -7.69 and a beta of 1.77.

About Valneva

Valneva SE, a specialty vaccine company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases with unmet needs. It offers IXIARO, an inactivated Vero cell culture-derived Japanese encephalitis vaccine indicated for active immunization against Japanese encephalitis; DUKORAL, an oral vaccine for the prevention of diarrhea caused by Vibrio cholera and/or heat-labile toxin producing enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli bacterium; IXCHIQ, a single-dose, live-attenuated vaccine for the prevention of disease caused by chikungunya virus; and VLA2001, an inactivated whole-virus COVID-19 vaccine.

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