Novavax Stock Gains Retail Spotlight After Jefferies’ Bullish Call, Firm’s Subsequent Clarification: Retail Turns Exuberant

Novavax Inc (NVAX) stock became the second most trending ticker on Stocktwits on Thursday morning after Jefferies gave a ‘Buy’ rating to the stock with a price target of $31. The target represents a potential upside of over 100% from the stock’s current level.

The brokerage reportedly indicated that it caught up with Novavax management and believes that for the near term, the firm is in "a good position" to meet its 2024 revenue guidance, driven by the U.S. market. Jefferies also reportedly said that according to the company, a majority of the 24/25 COVID-19 season sales will be in Q4.

“For the long term, the company is transitioning to an R&D model, with Phase 3 flu +/- CV19 as the lead that could trigger a major partnership in 2025 and new non-seasonal vaccines based on unique adjuvant technology as an earlier pipeline that would drive significant future growth,” Jefferies reportedly said.

Following the update, shares of Novavax had closed over 19% higher on Wednesday. However, Novavax came out with a clarification in an SEC filing.

The firm stated that it is aware of an analyst report published on Oct. 1, 2024, which referred to discussions with Novavax’s management regarding the anticipated U.S. market for COVID-19 vaccination for the 2024-2025 vaccination season.

“Novavax would like to clarify that while it has anticipated the COVID-19 vaccination market in the U.S. will be similar to last year, it has neither updated nor reaffirmed its full year 2024 financial guidance issued on August 8, 2024,” it clarified.

Shares of Novavax were trading over 5% lower in Thursday’s pre-market session. However, retail investors on Stocktwits turned ‘extremely bullish’ (80/100) from ‘bearish’ a day ago.

Notably, Novavax shares are up over 191% since the beginning of the year, significantly outperforming the benchmark indices. Stocktwits users with a ‘bullish’ outlook believe the shares are likely to rally in the coming times.