What is the best stock of COVID vaccines: Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson or Novavax?

Which COVID-19 vaccine is the best? The correct answer is that it depends on which factor is most important to you.

Comirnaty (BNT162b2), the vaccine developed by BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) and his great partner Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), had the highest overall efficacy in advanced stage testing. But Modernof (NASDAQ: ARNM) the efficiency of mRNA-1273 was almost as high. Biotechnology has also developed a formulation that does not have the stringent ultra-cold storage requirements that Comirnaty does.

Johnson & johnson (NYSE: JNJ) has just reported a correct efficacy result, but not too impressive for his vaccine. However, it only requires one dose – a big plus. Then there is Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX). Biotechnology last week announced excellent efficacy and safety results for its COVID-19 vaccine. The downside is that the results come from a UK study. It will be a few more months before the results of Novavax from a study conducted in the United States and Mexico are available.

The same “it depends” answer also applies to the question of which of these vaccines is the best stock of COVID vaccines. Here’s how I think Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and Novavax rank for different types of investors.

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For income investors

Let’s start with a relatively simple comparison. Income investors want dividends. We can immediately eliminate BioNTech, Moderna and Novavax from contention as they currently do not have dividend programs. That leaves only Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer.

If your primary goal is performance, Pfizer is the best choice. Its dividend currently yields more than 4.3% against 2.4% for J&J. Although Pfizer’s dividend is a bit lower going forward now that it is separated from its Upjohn unit, its yield is still expected to be much higher than that of Johnson & Johnson.

On the flip side, if you place a higher priority on dividend history, J&J is the obvious choice. The healthcare giant is a dividend king with 58 straight years of impressive dividend increases.

For value investors

It is also not a difficult decision to select the best stock of COVID vaccines for value investors. Value investors typically focus on metrics based on revenue or sales. This eliminates BioNTech, Moderna and Novavax from the list.

Based on one of the most commonly used valuation metrics, Pfizer appears to be the winner over Johnson & Johnson. For example, Pfizer shares are trading at less than 11.5 times expected earnings. J&J shares are trading at nearly 19 times expected earnings.

For growth investors

Now on to the more difficult choice: picking the best of these stocks for growth investors. The tables are reversed this time. Neither Pfizer nor Johnson & Johnson have the potential for sales and earnings growth as great as small biotech stocks.

We can also exclude BioNTech. He must split up Comirnaty’s sales with Pfizer. The company also has no other pipeline candidates in advanced testing that may be on the market in the near future.

So which growth stock wins in a clash between Moderna and Novavax? I will go with Novavax. Perhaps more importantly, Novavax’s market capitalization is much smaller than Moderna’s. This should give Novavax more leeway if its COVID-19 vaccine wins emergency use authorizations (which I am confident it will).

This joins another reason why Novavax is the best choice for growth investors. Biotechnology still has several key catalysts on the way for its NVX-CoV2373 coronavirus vaccine, including potential UK clearance, late-stage results from its US / Mexican study, and possible emergency use clearance. American.

Novavax also has another promising candidate that has a high chance of obtaining regulatory approvals: the NanoFlu influenza vaccine. If approved, NanoFlu could become a blockbuster in its own right. As a bonus, Novavax is exploring the development potential of a combined COVID / influenza vaccine with NVX-CoV2373 and NanoFlu.

Multiple winners

In my opinion, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson are great choices for more conservative investors, especially retirees and others who want dividend income. I think Novavax is the best choice for more aggressive investors looking for strong growth.

The good news, however, is that all of these actions could pay off in the long run. Moderna offers an enticing platform based on its messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. BioNTech also has promising vaccines and mRNA therapies in development, as well as candidates using other approaches. I suspect that in 10 years, investors who bought any of these stocks will have no regrets.