By Louis Juricic
Shares of CureVac (NASDAQ:CVAC), a biopharmaceutical company developing medicines based on mRNA, climbed 10% early on Thursday after it was upgraded to "Buy" by analysts at UBS. UBS raised its price target on the stock to $18, implying upside of 90% compared to Wednesday's close.
Positive preliminary data from CureVac 's ongoing Phase 1 clinical programs in COVID-19 and seasonal flu was reported on January 6, and the analysts see this as a "major de-risking" for its mRNA platform.
"As we noted after the Ph1 data on Jan 6, we see initial clinical data from the 2nd gen platform as a major milestone and clearing event, with preliminary data released from the company's Ph1 trials of CV0501 in COVID and FLU SV mRNA in influenza. In our view as the first data of the 2nd-gen platform's immunogenicity in humans, this is a major inflection point for the story, and suggests potentially competitive mRNA platform relative to mRNA peers," they wrote.
Discussing valuation, the analysts said, "At a market cap of ~$2B, vs MRNA at ~ $74B and BNTX at ~$35B (as of 1/17/23), we think this creates an underappreciated opportunity. We note the stock is up ~50% since the data in Jan, but we think shares trade higher with more data/trial starts and as awareness builds for this under-the-radar mRNA story. We note additional Ph1 data is expected near-term."