Health and Healthcare

Ebola Stock Fallout Severe on Monday

Is the Ebola scare over in the United States? Probably not by a long shot. That being said, Ebola fears are subsiding on Monday as dozens of people came off Ebola watch lists in the United States. Dozens of people are still being monitored after potential exposure to the virus. Another report out of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that Senegal was Ebola-free last Friday, and headlines hit on Monday morning that Nigeria was also called Ebola-free by the WHO.

As small cap and speculative stocks are often somewhat parabolic and almost schizophrenic in behavior, some of the Ebola high-flying stocks saw their share prices crater on Monday. The drop from their 52-week highs of late have been more than noticeable.

24/7 Wall St. has compiled a list of the Ebola stocks, as well as the airlines, which have been trading lower due to Ebola scares on the impact of airline travel if Ebola would have kept spreading.

It appears as though more than 40 people who had contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, were cleared of twice-daily monitoring due to having shown no symptoms for 21 days. Another 120 or so people remain on watch. The current death toll from this Ebola outbreak has been roughly 4,500 people, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

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Ebola stocks were not just under pressure, they were being slaughtered and were down massively from their 52-week highs.

iBio Inc. (NYSEMKT: IBIO), which has proprietary plant-based protein expression technologies to speed up vaccine development, was down 24% at $2.40 on twice normal trading volume, against a 52-week range of $0.24 to $3.48.

Lakeland Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: LAKE) was down 12.5% at $14.85, against a 52-week range of $4.75 to $29.55. Lakeland makes many of the hazmat suits, and it specifically now has suits designed for Ebola treatment.

Allied Healthcare Products Inc. (NASDAQ: AHPI) was down almost 13% at $2.38, but on thin trading volume. Its 52-week range is $1.60 to $3.90. Allied makes respiratory systems for inside of suits.

Alpha Pro Tech Ltd. (NYSEMKT: APT) was down 135 at $4.82, against a 52-week range of $1.50 to $10.73. Alpha Pro is also in disposable protective apparel and is a hazmat protection company.

Versar Inc. (NYSE: VSR) was down over 14% at $3.86, against a 52-week range of $2.69 to $7.84. It is a technical project management company.

Ebola vaccine and treatment drugs from biotech firms were as follows:

  • Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: TKMR) was down 4% at $20.90, against a 52-week range of $7.17 to $31.48. Volume was thin.
  • Chimerix Inc. (NASDAQ: CMRX) was down almost over 8% at $31.43, against a 52-week range of $12.96 to $36.75. Trading volume was light.
  • Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT) was the one gainer, perhaps due to a positive study’s carryover effect. Its stock was up almost 3% at $22.85, against a 52-week range of $12.12 to $44.29.
  • BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: BCRX) was up almost 2% at $11.79, against a 52-week range of $4.55 to $14.62.
  • Cerus Corp. (NASDAQ: CERS) was trading up as much as 9% in the premarket, but its stock was up 4% at $4.22 after about 30 minutes of trading. The gain was on news that it has submitted a compassionate use IDE Supplement for its INTERCEPT blood system treatment of Ebola convalescent plasma.

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Airlines were the winners so far on Monday:

  • United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) was up over 3% at $46.34. Its 52-week trading range is $29.63 to $52.45.
  • Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) was up about 3% to $35.44. Its 52-week trading range is $24.46 to $42.66.
  • American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) was up over 4% at $34.82, and its 52-week trading range is $21.07 to $44.88.
  • JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) was up about 2.5% at $11.13, and its 52-week trading range is $7.05 to $12.83.

 

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