Bernstein SocGen Group initiated coverage on BioNTech SE with a Market Perform rating and a price target of $96.00. The stock currently trades at $90.93, suggesting modest upside.
The firm expressed concerns about the clinical development plan for pumitamig, a PD-L1/VEGF drug candidate. Bernstein sees high risk of negative registrational trials due to historical failure to achieve statistically significant survival benefit.
Bernstein's risk-adjusted total pipeline peak sales for BioNTech are approximately 43% below consensus estimates. The firm believes consensus views on probability of technical success and market share for the PD-L1/VEGF class are overly optimistic.
The Market Perform rating differs from Bernstein's Underperform rating on a comparable company due to BioNTech's COVID vaccine revenue and diversified pipeline. The firm cited cash from Bristol Myers Squibb and a strong balance sheet of €16.8 billion by end of Q1 2026. BioNTech has funding to develop other drugs with higher probability of success.
