Alpho: The value of pharmaceutical companies will be affected by the resolution of production problems

The vaccination marathon of the world’s population continues in 2021. Stocks of companies producing Covid-19 vaccines do not experience their all-time highs; they are in the same position as other sectors on financial markets. However, from the long-term perspective, production problems are expected to be resolved and ordered volumes are supposed to multiply their current values.

The use of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca in cooperation with the University of Oxford is being approved by a growing number of regulatory bodies, which prepares the ground for its general use, namely in the developing countries.

AstraZeneca’s stocks are now traded at approximately the same level as in prior year and WHO’s approval of the vaccine may have a strong impact on the expansion of its use in other countries. Additionally, the company’s commitment not to profit from the sale of the COVID-19 vaccine may shuffle the cards with respect to its competitors.

AstraZeneca’s vaccine is sold for the lowest price among the currently available vaccines. According to the Belgian health minister, the price is EUR 1.80 (USD 2.20) per dose in the European Union compared to EUR 18 for a dose from Moderna and EUR 12 for Pfizer’s vaccine.

Pfizer, as the largest pharmaceutical company in the US, increased its year-on-year net profit by more than 76% in fourth quarter, representing nearly USD 600 million. This year, the company expects sales of about USD 15 million arising from the vaccine distribution. The company plans to supply approximately 2 million vaccines this year. Good news for the company came from Japan, where the Japanese Ministry of Health announced on Sunday that Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine had been officially approved. For the past few weeks, Pfizer stock trading has been consolidated with the price keeping close to USD 34.60 of 29 October 2020.

Moderna moves up its expected supplies of 300 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the end of July. On Tuesday (16 February 2021), the firm updated information on the supplies of its COVID-19 vaccine, expecting to supply 100 million doses to the US Government by the end of March.

Lưu Đỗ Hoàng Anh

Alpho Financial Analyst

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