10 Best Vaccine Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds

7. Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 50

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) is a clinical-stage vaccine innovation company that develops high-fidelity vaccines. It continues to develop broad-spectrum conjugate and novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. It re-engineers the creation of highly complex vaccines through advanced chemistry and modern synthetic techniques.

Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) remains well-positioned to maintain continued positive momentum across its PCV (pneumococcal conjugate vaccine) franchise. Apart from this franchise, its lead clinical candidate is VAX-24, a 24-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease. The vaccine holds significant potential to become a best-in-class PCV in a $7 billion global market expected to reach nearly $13 billion by 2027. The vaccine has received FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation for preventing invasive pneumococcal disease in adults.

Baron Health Care Fund stated the following regarding Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:

“We purchased Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX), a biopharmaceutical company with a next-generation vaccine platform. Vaxcyte recently showed data suggesting that their pneumococcal vaccine is better than the current vaccines on the market today. Pneumococcal vaccines are one of the largest vaccine categories today, with approximately $8 billion in worldwide sales. The vaccines are recommended for children under 5 or adults over 65 to prevent pneumococcal infection. The incumbents’ technology has hit a ceiling where their vaccines require too much protein carrier, which causes immune interference and lowered response to the pneumococcal antigen. As Pfizer and Merck have tried to add more serotypes to their vaccines, they’ve lost efficacy on some of the historically relevant serotypes. Vaxcyte’s platform allows a lower protein carrier/antigen ratio so the company can include more serotypes while minimizing carrier suppression. Vaxcyte recently reported impressive Phase 1/2 data for their VAX31 vaccine in adults. VAX31 looked at least as good as Pfizer’s standard of care PCV20 vaccine on the existing 20 serotypes (and was statistically superior on several serotypes) and added strong immune coverage of 11 additional serotypes. VAX31 now covers 95% of circulating strains in US adults and 98% in the EU. TheUSy will now run Phase 3 studies in adults and start a Phase 1/2 for VAX31 in children. We think that the pneumococcal vaccine market will be $10 billion-plus in 2030, that VAX31 can capture significant share, and that this will be a durable business.”