Vical To Vaccinate Navy; Flu Stocks Mixed

After pulling back from their flu-induced highs, some selected swine flu stocks broke out on Thursday.

Swine flu worries have subsided since the first reports of the disease grabbed headlines, and the spike that initially resulted in vaccine producers has since reversed. On a monthly basis, however, most companies in the Swine Flu Index are still in the green, holding on to some of their gains, and today, a number of stocks are up big on news of earnings and new contracts.

As a whole the Swine Flu and Bird Flu Stocks Index is up by 2.8%. It remains ahead of the S&P 500 by 10.5% this month.

Vical (VICL) reported a net loss of 20 cents a share this morning prior to the opening bell. The loss missed analyst expectations by a penny, but the company was able to beat estimates on revenues. Vical also announced yesterday that it entered an agreement to develop a swine flu vaccine for the Navy. Shares have given up some of their after hours gains, but remain higher by 11%.

Hemispherx Biopharma (HEB) is the sector’s biggest winner today, up by more than 30%. The company specializes in development and manufacture of drugs for the treatment of viral and immune-based chronic disorders.

Pure Bioscience (PURE) is up by over 6% today. The company has gone up by more than 16% over the last week.

Gilead Sciences (GILD) and Dynavax Technologies (DVAX) are also up today. Both companies are trading higher by more than 3%.

Sinovac Biotech (SVA), Novavax (NVAX), and Alpha Pro Tech (APT) are not participating in the rally. All three are down by more than -2%.

As of this writing the Swine Flu and Bird Flu Stocks Index is one of the top-60 performing tickerspy Indexes this month, up by 24.3%.

Investors can follow the Swine Flu and Bird Flu Stocks Index and view related performance charts and metrics at tickerspy.com.

Tags: APT, DVAX, GILD, HEB, NVAX, PURE, SVA, VICL