1 Stock To Buy, 1 To Dump When Markets Open: Novavax, American

Stocks on Wall Street sold off on Friday, during the shortened, post-Thanksgiving session. The benchmark suffered one of its biggest losses of the year as fears over a new coronavirus variant spooked the market.

The World Health Organization dubbed the heavily mutated B.1.1529 COVID variant, which was first detected in South Africa, as a “variant of concern,” the first such designation since the Delta variant a year ago. While it is still unclear if the new mutation, named ‘Omicron,’ is more deadly than prior strains, scientists and health officials are worried it could be more transmissible.

The week ahead is expected to be another eventful one, as investors monitor further developments on the lingering health crisis and key Congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chair is on the docket. We’ll also see important economic data, such as the latest , and earnings from companies like Salesforce (NYSE:), Crowdstrike (NASDAQ:), and DocuSign (NASDAQ:) come through.

Regardless of which direction the market goes, below we highlight one stock likely to be in demand in the coming days and another which could see fresh losses.

Remember though, our timeframe is just for the week ahead.

Stock To Buy: Novavax

COVID-related developments are expected to dominate market sentiment in the week ahead amid mounting fears about the new Omicron coronavirus variant. That should result in increased buying activity for Novavax (NASDAQ:), which said that it has already started working on a version of its original COVID-19 vaccine the recently discovered variant.

The vaccine developer said it would have the new shot ready for testing and manufacturing in the next few weeks.

NVAX stock, which started the year at $111.51 and soared all the way to an all-time peak of $331.00 in early February, ended Friday’s session at $217.97, its best level since Sept. 28. At current levels, the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based biotechnology firm has a market cap of roughly $16.5 billion.

Novavax has thrived this year amid bullish bets its coronavirus vaccine will materialize into a major revenue source in the years ahead. Year-to-date, shares have gained 95.5%, easily outpacing the S&P 500’s 22.3% increase over the same timeframe.

The vaccine maker, which received its first emergency use approval (EUA) earlier this month in Indonesia, has stated it is on track to file for EUA in the U.S. by the end of 2021. It has also filed for approvals with the European Medicines Agency as well as in Canada.

Through its recombinant nanoparticle vaccine technology, it produces vaccine candidates to respond to both known and newly emerging diseases.

Stock To Dump: American Airlines

With fears brewing over another potential wave of the coronavirus—and subsequent global restrictions and lockdowns to slow the spread of the disease—shares of American Airlines (NASDAQ:) are expected to suffer another miserable week.

Health officials in Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, said two…