Why Shares Of AstraZeneca Are Down By 3% Today?

AstraZeneca Video 23.03.21.

AstraZeneca Stock Moves Lower As U.S. Health Officials Seek More Data On Its COVID-19 Vaccine

Shares of AstraZeneca found themselves under strong pressure after U.S. health officials criticised trial data that was published on Monday. The main concern of health officials was that the data was outdated.

According to AstraZeneca’s response, its press release used the data avalable through February 17. The company promised to work with U.S. health officials to address their concerns.

Previously, European countries paused the use of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on concerns about serious side effects which included blood clots. The World Health Organization stated that the benefits of the vaccine outweighted its risks and that it recommended that vaccinations continued. However, it is clear that public confidence in the vaccine has declined. In addition, problems of AstraZeneca vaccine may have hurt confidence in vaccination in general.

What’s Next For AstraZeneca?

AstraZeneca shares have been trending down since July 2020 when the stock reached its high at $64.94 on vaccine enthusiasm. The rollout of the vaccine was followed by various problems, and the latest criticism from U.S. health officials is just another problem for the company.

At current levels, AstraZeneca stock is trading at 15 forward P/E which is not cheap compared to the peer group. The company’s problems with the vaccine add to the pressure as they create negative headlines.

While AstraZeneca is a huge drug manufacturer whose sales are not limited to coronavirus vaccine, investors and traders should not understimate the impact of negative headlines on the price of the company’s shares.

Most likely, the stock will need an upside trend in company’s earnings estimates to move higher. At this point, nobody knows whether revenue from COVID-19 vaccines will be recurring, but AstraZeneca must solve existing problems before the market will start to evaluate the longer-term revenue potential of its coronavirus vaccine.

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