Evotec, Cardiol Therapeutics, MorphoSys - Watch out: Great upside potential here in the short term

EVOTEC SE - Excitement is rising, figures coming at the end of March

Evotec has shown an impressive performance on the stock market in recent years. In October 2009, the shares were included in the TECDAX at around EUR 2. In 2018 the Company was promoted to the MDAX at quotations of EUR 18. Currently, the Company has a market capitalization of EUR 5.4 billion at around EUR 32. The Hamburg-based drug discovery and development Company works within research alliances and development partnerships with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, patient organizations and venture capital companies to generate and advance innovative approaches to developing new pharmaceutical products. Evotec also has proprietary drug candidates in clinical as well as preclinical development. The Company now employs over 3,000 people worldwide.

The indicated areas included in the Company's activity field include Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, cancer, and various inflammatory and infectious diseases. The list of development partnerships with pharmaceutical companies is long and includes Bayer, Sanofi, Genentech and AstraZeneca.

On Monday, "industry colleague" MorphSys published its preliminary figures for the past fiscal year. On March 25, the Hamburg-based Company will present its annual report. A look at the key figures shows impressively that the valuation of Evotec is based on potentials that are not yet measurable today. The 2021 P/E ratio is around 130. The stock belongs on the buy list for long-term investors who want to get involved in the industry.

CARDIOL THERAPEUTICS INC - On to the Nasdaq with full pockets!

Canadian biotechnology Company Cardiol Therapeutics, which is working to develop innovative clinical-stage anti-inflammatory therapies for cardiovascular disease treatment, announced two important pieces of information yesterday. The Company has filed for an up-listing of its common stock on Nasdaq. According to the Company, this is a logical step, as the US technology exchange represents the largest relevant stock exchange and has a lot of investor attention. A significant effect, if the application goes through, would undoubtedly be a higher company valuation.

In addition, Cardiol reported having generated over CAD 10 million from the exercise of warrants and stock options. On the one hand, this strengthens the balance sheet and enables further development steps, e.g., initiating the phase II / III clinical trial program in the US. A study is planned to investigate the cardioprotective properties of the lead product CardiolRx in 422 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with pre-existing conditions or risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Cardiol hopes to publish these results later this year.

CardiolRx is a pharmaceutically manufactured oral cannabidiol formulation. The objective is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the compound as a cardioprotective therapy to reduce mortality and serious heart disease in COVID-19 patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease or risk factors, and to investigate the impact of the compound on key markers of inflammatory heart disease. Thus, exciting times lie ahead for the Company and its shareholders. With a market capitalization of CAD 138 million, the potential of the innovative compound is insufficiently priced.

MORPHOSYS AG - own forecasts exceeded

This Monday, the biopharmaceutical Company based in Planegg near Munich published its preliminary figures for the past fiscal year, topping the annual forecast that had only been raised in October. The Company generated an operating profit (EBIT) of EUR 27.4 million, which was well above the forecast range of EUR 10 to 20 million. In the previous year, a loss of around EUR 72 million had to be posted. The sales forecast of around EUR 328 million represents a more than fourfold increase over the previous year's figure. Initial analyst reactions were positive, after which the share price rose briefly but gave up most of the gains.

MorphoSys has developed many antibody technologies that it uses for both its proprietary and partnered programs. The South German Company's most important asset is a vast antibody library called HuCAL, which contains more than 10 billion human antibodies that scientists use to make human antibodies.

MorphoSys receives milestone payments on drug development under the partnerships and shares in sales of marketable drugs. Partner companies include major international pharmaceutical companies such as Bayer, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co, Pfizer and Eli Lilly. Founded in 1992, the Company has impressively demonstrated that a start-up can become an internationally renowned player who is currently weighing in at an impressive EUR 2.8 billion on the stock exchange.