Shares of Siga Technologies and other companies making vaccines and anti-viral products tied to monkeypox are in focus after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
On Monday, Siga’s shares gained as much as 27% on elevated volume, its sharpest intraday rally since May, while Chimerix and Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding also rose. Retail attention has turned back to Siga, with the firm drawing interest on social media platform Stocktwits over the weekend and becoming among the top-traded names Monday on Fidelity’s platform.
It has been a tumultuous few months for the shares of firms tied to the outbreak, as retail investors have piled in and rushed out of the group on uncertainty about the future of vaccines or therapies that could be needed to fight the spread. Siga, as well as Chimerix and Emergent BioSolutions, are "key beneficiaries” of the WHO declaration on the therapeutics side, Cowen analyst Boris Peaker wrote in a note.