Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) received great news last Thursday that an advisory committee from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has overwhelmingly recommended Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its COVID-19 vaccine. That news was followed by the FDA granting EUA to Pfizer’s vaccine over the weekend. But Pfizer shares fell on both Friday and Monday after these positive developments. In this Motley Fool Live Recorded on December 11, 2020, Corinne Cardina, head of the healthcare and cannabis agency, and Keith Speights, author of Fool.com, discuss why Pfizer’s stock hasn’t rallied after the good news.
Corrine Cardina: Keith, what have you noticed about the market response so far? I was a little surprised to see this morning that Pfizer just came out a hair. Do you think the market might have offered it that far ahead? Now we only see the catalytic converter in the rearview mirror, what’s going on?
Keith Speights: Well, Corinne, there’s an old saying among investors: “Buy the rumor. Sell the news.” I think we’ll probably see a little of that today.
Like I said, everyone expected this to happen. Everyone expected the Advisory Committee to recommend or sooner recommend authorization for Pfizer’s vaccine. Since those expectations were already in the minds of investors, I think when the news arrived, it was like, “Okay, now what?”
I think we are there. We are in the “OK, now what” phase. What’s next? I think that’s why you saw too Moderna shares are rising a bit this morning as investors are now looking to the future with Moderna. The advisory committee will meet next week to review their vaccine. We always talk about the stock market being forward-looking. I think that’s exactly what we’re seeing this morning with the movement of some of these stocks.