Which Is the Best COVID Vaccine Stock: Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, or Novavax?
Hint: It's complicated.
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 its big partner Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), had the highest overall efficacy in late-stage testing. But Moderna's (NASDAQ:MRNA) efficacy for mRNA-1273 was nearly as high. The biotech also developed a formulation that doesn't have the stringent ultracold storage requirements that Comirnaty does.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) just reported an OK but not overly impressive efficacy result for its vaccine. However, it requires only a single dose -- a big plus. Then there's Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX). The biotech announced great efficacy and safety results for its COVID-19 vaccine last week. The downside is that the results are from a U.K. study. It will be a few more months before Novavax's results from a study conducted in the U.S. and Mexico are available.
The same "it depends" answer also applies to the question about which of these is the best COVID vaccine stock. Here's how I think Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and Novavax rank for different kinds of investors.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
For income investors
Let's start with a relatively easy comparison. Income investors want dividends. We can immediately eliminate BioNTech, Moderna, and Novavax from contention because they don't currently have dividend programs. That leaves only Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer.
If your primary focus is yield, Pfizer is the better pick. Its dividend currently yields over 4.3% compared to 2.4% for J&J. Although Pfizer's dividend will be a little lower going forward now that it's spun off its Upjohn unit, its yield should still be well above Johnson & Johnson's.
On the other hand, if you place a higher priority on dividend track records, J&J is the obvious choice. The healthcare giant is a Dividend King with an impressive 58 consecutive years of dividend increases.
For value investors
It's not a tough decision to select the best COVID vaccine stock for value investors, either. Value investors typically focus on metrics based on earnings or sales. That knocks BioNTech, Moderna, and Novavax from the list.
Based on any of the most commonly used valuation metrics, Pfizer appears to be the winner versus Johnson & Johnson. For example, Pfizer shares trade at less than 11.5 times expected earnings. J&J stock trades at nearly 19 times expected earnings.
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