Covid-19 Testmakers Dealt $47 Billion Blow by Pfizer Vaccine
Covid-19 Testmakers Dealt $38 Billion Blow by Pfizer’s Vaccine
(Bloomberg) -- Promising results from a study of Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s vaccine for Covid-19 sent companies that have developed and sold tests to diagnose the condition spiraling, wiping out more than $47 billion in market value across more than a dozen stocks.
Concerns about the sustainability of profits for the testing-kit market erased more than a quarter of Quidel Corp.’s value. High-flying stocks including Hologic Inc. and Qiagen tumbled 7.8% or more, while competitors like Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Abbott Laboratories, and Danaher Corp. shed billions in value as their stocks tumbled.
Some industry watchers had been optimistic for the group’s resilience despite advancements for vaccines and therapies to combat the coronavirus. Investors and analysts had argued that even with the development and rollout of a successful shot -- or shots -- there would still be demand for tests into 2022.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.