By Sam Boughedda
Vir Biotechnology Inc.'s (NASDAQ:VIR) rating was lifted to Buy from Neutral, and its price target was raised to $53 from $41 at Goldman Sachs on Tuesday.
Analysts there told investors in a research note that Vir has a "compelling risk/reward for an underappreciated catalyst with the potential to drive a major new leg of growth."
Goldman Sachs also said that VIR will report VIR-2482 data in mid-2023, and they expect it to show "meaningfully better efficacy" than currently approved and rival pipeline-stage flu vaccines. As a result, they said it will drive material upward revisions to consensus estimates.
"We recognize that several key questions still need to be addressed (price, COGS, partnering, guideline recommendations)," the analysts added. "And though the flu market expanded significantly during the COVID pandemic to $8bn with 1bn doses delivered in 2021 (+29% vs. 2019), our conservative assumptions nevertheless support 2030 risk-adjusted (60% PoS) sales of $2.3bn (vs. just $700mn for consensus)."
They stated that with VIR-2482 representing less than 20% of consensus 2030 risk-adjusted sales, Goldman Sachs sees a real second, post-COVID leg to the story emerging and believes the current valuation presents a compelling risk/reward.