Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard of the coronavirus outbreak in China. What’s more, is that this could be turning into a pandemic spanning multiple continents. That’s bad news for health officials but potentially big news for companies working on vaccines for certain viruses.
But before you start looking for the top penny stocks to watch related to the coronavirus, you might want to know exactly what it is, first. According to the Center For Disease Control and Prevention or the “CDC” here’s a quick answer to the question, “What is the coronavirus?”:
“Common human coronaviruses, including types 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1, usually cause mild to moderate upper-respiratory tract illnesses, like the common cold…These illnesses usually only last for a short amount of time…Human coronaviruses can sometimes cause lower-respiratory tract illnesses, such as pneumonia or bronchitis. This is more common in people with cardiopulmonary disease, people with weakened immune systems, infants, and older adults.”
Since these can develop into MERS or SARS, the severity can be extreme. Sometimes death can become the result of late-stage coronavirus left untreated. The virus can also become easily spread, which is why it has become such a serious topic. So given this situation, the markets tend to find reasons to invest in certain companies speculating on one that may find an actual vaccine or cure.
Here’s a look at a few companies that have both benefited from the surge in interest as well as have a pipeline that could hold some version of a treatment: