Several companies that saw significant boosts to their stock prices during the coronavirus pandemic got battered at the stock market after pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced positive vaccine results.
Shares of companies like Zoom fell sharply on Monday as brands that benefitted from the stay-at-home environment due to the pandemic lost their appeal after Pfizer and BioNTech announced that its vaccine candidate was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 infections.
Zoom Founder Loses $5 Billion
Although the vaccine has not yet been peer reviewed or submitted to regulators, the news immediately impacted shares of Zoom, which closed 17.4% lower. Zoom, which has hosted virtual classes, family gatherings and business meetings for more than 300 million participants a day during the pandemic.
The stock soared more than 500% this year and Eric Yuan, the company's founder, was at one point worth $28.6 billion, making him the 40th wealthiest person on the planet. However, Monday's freefall erased $5.1 million from Yuan's net worth.
Netflix, Peloton, Amazon Also Suffer
Fellow "stay-at-home" stocks also took a beating on Monday. Shares of Peloton, the exercise bike and treadmill company that saw sales spike after gyms shuttered around the world, fell more than 20%. The stock's performance during the pandemic was visible in quarterly results posted by the company earlier this month, in which it reported a fiscal first-quarter sales growth of 232%.
Netflix, the online streaming giant, witnessed a 8.5% drop while Amazon closed 5.1% lower. While the former was up 79.2%, the latter had surged 59.1% since January. Other stocks such as the virtual healthcare company Teladoc Health slid 13.7% and e-commerce platform Shopify declined by 13.6%.
Airlines, Banking Stocks Surge
While stay-at-home stocks took a hit on Monday, companies that would benefit from the reopening of the economy, including banking institutions and airlines, witnessed a surge.
For instance, Bank of America popped 14.2%. JPMorgan Chase jumped 13.5%. Cruise operators Carnival Corp. and Norwegian Cruise line were up 39.3% and 26.8%, respectively. Royal Caribbean closed 28.8% higher. American Airlines, meanwhile, surged more than 15%.
