Day two of the coronavirus scare is now in the books and practically all major American averages are down over 3% for their second consecutive day. Currently all the gains for the year for each of these major averages have been wiped out and the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq are sitting with a loss. Although people could point to many factors in this pullback, the number one reason seems to be the coronavirus or COVID-19.
As we’ve seen over the past few weeks, China is facing an outbreak of the coronavirus, and this has spread to more countries around the world. Global infections of over 80,000 people have been reported, but only about 2,500 of these were outside of mainland China. However, there are concerns that China is underreporting these numbers, and asymptomatic transmission is a troubling issue.
There are currently 52,000 active cases of the coronavirus, and 28,000 closed cases. Of the cases with outcomes, over 25,000 of those infected have recovered while there have been just over 2,600 reported deaths.
The economic concerns of the coronavirus are mounting, and companies with production in China are likely to see the biggest impact. However, global gross domestic product numbers could see a drop as more companies take precautionary measures rather than risk infection. With a more cautious approach to business, it’s easy to see how the global economy would slow down, especially with China acting as one of the biggest manufacturers.
24/7 Wall St. has tracked some of the stocks that are either defensive in general or that are defying the big drop because they have some aspect of their business that might be immune to daily scares or because they are potential beneficiaries of these moves.
Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) shares closed Tuesday down 2% at $7.95, in a 52-week range of $3.54 to $43.40. The consensus price target is $13.75.
NanoViricides Inc. (NYSE: NNVC) stock pulled back 14% to $7.90 on Tuesday. The 52-week range is $1.27 to $19.20.
Lakeland Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: LAKE) shares were up 7% at $15.57, in a 52-week range of $9.70 to $16.28. The consensus price target is $16.00.
Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: INO) shares were down 5% at $3.74. The 52-week range is $1.92 to $5.95, and the consensus price target is $9.43.
Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) shares were down about 4% at $70.10. The 52-week range is $60.89 to $74.52. The consensus price target is $75.04.
Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX) shares closed Tuesday up 0.4% at $167.85, with a 52-week range of $144.12 to $169.73. The consensus analyst price target is $155.15.
Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) traded up 2% at $107.08, but still under its post-IPO high of $110.75. Zoom Video is part of the “work from home” economy in a sense as it allows for constant communications.
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