Why Pfizer stock came up today

Pfizer (PFE 3.46%) was a moving stock on Wednesday and not because of any news generated by the healthcare company. Reports of a meeting between Pfizer’s chief executive and an activist investor fueled the stock, which ended the day more than 3% higher in price. That gain far outstripped the 0.7% increase a S&P 500 index.

A meeting of activists is apparently imminent

late afternoon on tuesday Financial Times (FT) published an article stating that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla plans to meet with that activist investor, Starboard Value. Citing unnamed “people familiar with the matter,” the business paper said Bourla is set to engage in talks with Starboard, accompanied by at least one other Pfizer board member.

The report came just days after The Wall Street Journal announced that Starboard had taken a stake worth about $1 billion in the American pharmaceutical giant. This would give him a stake of around 0.6% in the company. While that’s not a major stake, it’s enough for Starboard to advocate loudly and publicly for change — the typical modus operandi for activist investors.

right FThis sources, Starboard created an “extensive” slide presentation about his ideas for strategy changes at Pfizer. However, he has not released it yet.

Post-coronavirus fatigue

While Pfizer is a strong company, it hasn’t been able to shake its reputation as a trailblazer after its big success as co-developer of the Comirnaty coronavirus vaccine (in partnership with the German biotech). BioNTech) at the beginning of this decade. The company’s post-pandemic fundamentals haven’t been impressive at times; investors will hope that if a Pfizer/Starboard summit takes place, it will produce good ideas for addressing the latter.