Cantor Fitzgerald Initiates Coverage on Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX)

Research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $18.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 111.27% from the stock’s previous close. Cantor Fitzgerald also issued estimates for Novavax’s FY2025 earnings at $2.23 EPS.

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

Novavax Price Performance

Shares of NVAX opened at $8.52 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $7.44. Novavax has a fifty-two week low of $5.01 and a fifty-two week high of $11.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a PE ratio of 3.74, a PEG ratio of 0.12 and a beta of 2.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93, a quick ratio of 2.34 and a current ratio of 2.36.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.69. Novavax had a net margin of 39.20% and a negative return on equity of 142.33%. The firm had revenue of $239.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $149.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.99 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 42.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Novavax will post -1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Novavax during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Novavax by 47.2% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 9,739 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 3,122 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novavax in the second quarter worth $73,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new stake in shares of Novavax in the first quarter worth $71,000. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Novavax in the second quarter worth $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.04% of the company’s stock.

Novavax Company Profile

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.