Vir Biotechnology surges after Goldman upgrade

Vir Biotechnology (VIR.US) shares rose over 8.0% on Tuesday after  Goldman Sachs  upgraded the immunology company to buy from neutral and lifted its price target to $53 from $41. Bank believes the stock could double, citing Vir’s release of flu vaccine data in the year ahead.

"And though the flu market expanded significantly during the COVID pandemic to $8bn with 1bn doses delivered in 2021 (+29% vs. 2019), our conservative assumptions nevertheless support 2030 risk-adjusted (60% PoS) sales of $2.3bn (vs. just $700mn for consensus)" analysts wrote.

Analysts also pointed to "compelling risk/reward for an underappreciated catalyst with the potential to drive a major new leg of growth."

Vir Biotechnology (VIR.US) launched today's session with nearly 14.0% bullish price gap, however buyers gave back some gains later in the session as overall sentiment deteriorated further. Currently price is approaching local support at $27.00, which coincides with 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of the downward wave started in December 2021. Should break lower occur, price may move towards recent lows at $24.65 and 200 SMA (red line). Nevertheless as long as price sits above $27.00 handle, upward move have a chance to resume. Nearest resistance to watch lies at $31.60, marked by previous price reactions and lower limit of the 1:1 structure. Source: xStation5