Global financial markets are being whipped this week. Stocks on Wall Street have suffered one of their worst sell-offs of the year, amid fears over the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant. No wonder: according to early studies, Omicron appears to be much more transferable than previous variants.
While it is still difficult to determine the economic impact of the rapidly spreading virus strain, the three names below are probably one of the beneficiaries of the current COVID wave.
1 . Pfizer
Performance to date: +60.1%
Market Capitalization: $330.9 Billion
Pfizer (NYSE:) has emerged as one of the big winners in the race to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine. Pfizer, a standout player in the booming pharmaceutical sector this year, is reaping the benefits of the unprecedented global vaccination campaign against the pandemic.
In fact, Pfizer's COVID injection, co-developed with German drugmaker BioNTech (NASDAQ:), has quickly become one of the best-selling products in the history of the US pharmaceutical giant.
The New York City-based company raised its full-year 2021 sales forecast for its COVID-19 vaccine by 7.5% to $36 billion when it reported Nov. 2. It also raised its outlook for 2022 as it signs deals with more countries for booster doses and gains full approval to administer the vaccine to children.
Pfizer warned last week that the pandemic would last until 2024, stating it expects to start a clinical trial in January for an updated version of its vaccine tailored to fight the Omicron variant. The company announced plans to develop a three-dose vaccine for children ages 2 to 16.
Additionally, the drugmaker has also developed a yet-to-be-launched COVID-19 antiviral pill, which PFE claims is nearly 90% effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths in high-risk patients. The pill awaits FDA approval.
Shares of PFE started the year at $36.81 and ended Tuesday's session at $58.95, not far from a record high of $61.71 reached on Dec. 20. such as Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:), AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:), Merck (NYSE:), and Eli Lilly (NYSE:) – has a market cap of $330.9 billion.
Year-to-date, Pfizer shares have gained about 60%, easily outperforming the comparable returns of both the and .
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We expect that Pfizer, which has become one of the leading vaccine manufacturers, will continue to outperform during the current outbreak of Omicron variants. While analysts are more conservative, the quantitative models in InvestingPro point to a 25% increase from current levels to $76.44/share.
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InvestingPro: 25% upside for Pfizer
Chart: InvestingPro
2. Thermo Fisher Scientific
Performance to date: +38.5%
Market Cap: $254.3 Billion
One of the world's largest manufacturers of diagnostic test kits, lab hardware and supplies, Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:) has been a top performer in the healthcare sector this year thanks to strong demand for its coronavirus testing products. It also provides raw materials for COVID-19 vaccines and therapies.
The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company, which received FDA emergency use authorization for its SARS-CoV-2 test in March 2020, earned $2.05 billion in the third quarter from sales of its coronavirus-related products and services. Given the current spike in global cases of the Omicron variant, Thermo Fisher is likely to see an increase in global demand for its test kits by the end of the year and early 2022.
Thermo Fisher reported optimistic numbers and revenues on Oct. 27, raising full-year expectations by $1.2 billion to $37.1 billion, up 15% from a year earlier. It forecast revenue from the response to COVID-19 would rise from $6.7 billion to $7.7 billion for the year.
As a sign that bodes well for the future, the scientific instrument maker also raised its 2022 revenue forecast by $200 million to $40.5 billion, highlighting how well Thermo Fisher's company has performed in the current market environment.
]Thermo Fisher daily chart
Shares of the medical device maker outperformed the S&P 500 by a wide margin in 2021, rising nearly 40% with just a week to go in 2021. TMO, which started the year at $465, 78 and rose all the way to an all-time high of $666.65 on Nov. 26, closing at $645.34 Tuesday, earning the healthcare company a valuation of $254.3 billion.
With concerns about the Omicron variant continuing to dominate sentiment, Thermo Fisher should continue to enjoy a rebound in its already stellar financial performance into the new year. Indeed, quantitative pricing models in InvestingPro indicate a 10% increase from current levels to $714.98 per share. ]3. Datadog
Performance so far: +80.3%
Market Capitalization: $55.4 billion
Datadog (NASDAQ:), which provides a security monitoring and analytics platform for software developers and information technology (IT) departments, has had a remarkable performance this year. Shares of the New York City-based software-as-a-service company, which counts names like FedEx (NYSE:), AT&T (NYSE:) and Airbnb (NASDAQ:) as customers, are up 80% in the past year. increased. -date, as it benefits from rising demand for its cloud observation solutions in the enterprise segment.
DDOG began trading on January 1 at $98.44 and rose to a record high of $199.68 on November 17. It hit $177.49 on Tuesday, earning the high-flying enterprise software maker a valuation of more than $55 billion.
Datadog looks poised for further gains in the coming weeks as the current remote work environment resulting from the coronavirus health crisis fuels demand for its cloud-based cybersecurity software services.
Not surprisingly, the SaaS company posted financial results that crushed Wall Street's earnings and revenue forecasts in every quarter this year as the COVID pandemic forced companies to accelerate digitization trends and cloud migration.
For the most recent period, Datadog announced on November 4, year-over-year growth of 160% to $0.13 per share, while revenue grew 75% to a record $270.5 million, as due to rising demand for its cloud-based security tools
Indeed, Datadog said it had 1,610 customers with annual recurring sales of $100,000 or more as of September 30, up nearly 60% from 1,015 in the same period a year ago.
Looking ahead, Datadog's guidance for the current quarter ending January made it clear that the software maker does not expect a slowdown in the coming months. The company said it expected forecast revenue to grow about 64% year-over-year to a new all-time high of $291 million
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