Why Novavax Stock Is Jumping Today

Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) is already up by more than 1,800% year to date, but the company's stock still isn't done climbing. At least so says Mayank Mamtani, an analyst with B. Riley FBR, who reiterated a buy rating on Novavax today and gave the company a brand-new price target of $106, up from his previous target of $74.

This news may have been the catalyst for Novavax's shares jumping on Monday: The stock is up by 6.4% as of 3:22 p.m. EDT today.

With several companies rushing to end the pandemic by developing an effective vaccine for COVID-19, Novavax has been one of the leaders in the race. Earlier this month, the company was awarded a grant of $60 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to advance the development of its investigational COVID-19 vaccine, NVX-CoV2373. But Mamtani believes that Novavax could receive even more funding from the government than it already has in its quest to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus. Even without additional outside funding, though, the analyst believes that Novavax has more than enough cash in the bank right now.

Source Fool.com