Why Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (VKTX) Crashed Last Week

We recently compiled a list of the These 10 Firms Were Last Week’s Worst Performers. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) stands against the other stocks.

Wall Street’s main indices finished firmer on Friday, with all main indices settling in the green territory ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Week-on-week, the Dow eked out a 3.81-percent gain, the S&P rallied 3.79 percent, while the Nasdaq increased by 3.84 percent.

Ten companies from diverse sectors, however, ended Friday weaker, posting notable declines versus the week prior. In this article, let’s look at which firms suffered a bloodbath and the reasons that dragged their performance.

For this week’s list, we only focused on companies with a market capitalization of at least $2 billion and a minimum trading volume of $5 million.

A microbiologist in protective gear studying samples in a laboratory.

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Despite booking a 0.28-percent gain in Friday’s trading, Viking Therapeutics, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:VKTX) week-on-week share price markedly fell by 15.08 percent as investor sentiment was dampened by news of the US government’s potential price negotiations with drugmakers over what they deemed were overpriced drugs.

Last week, the US government still under the Biden administration added 15 prescription drugs to the list of medications that Medicare will negotiate prices on. Albeit no drug manufactured by Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) has been named on the list, overall cautious sentiment about drug pricing regulations created a ripple effect across the sector over fears that price negotiations could impact future revenues, especially for high-cost therapies.

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel first-in-class or best-in-class therapies for the treatment of metabolic and endocrine disorders, with three compounds currently in clinical trials.

Overall VKTX ranks 3rd on our list of last week’s worst performers. While we acknowledge the potential of VKTX as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than VKTX but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.