Here's what major analysts said about J&J, Moderna and other related stocks following the pause news

Published Tue, Apr 13 202111:38 AM EDT

Jesse Pound @/in/jesse-pound @jesserpound

The news that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine would be paused appeared to take the wind out of the stock market on Tuesday, but many Wall Street analysts argued that the development did not change the overall direction for U.S. vaccination trends. And individual company analysts argued it could be a buying opportunity for competitors and some other related shares. The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday recommended a pause in Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine , citing a small number of rare blood clot events following the jab. Health officials said they expected the pause to last for several days. Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine was the third candidate approved for emergency use in the United States, and has so far been administered less than the two-shot versions from Moderna and Pfizer. Bank of America said in a note that the development could prove to be a minor hiccup in the global fight against the pandemic. "With its one-dose treatment course and less restrictive distribution requirements ... JNJ's vaccine had been expected to be a key player in vaccination efforts. Today's news represents a potential risk to global vaccination efforts but given the very rare nature of the clotting risk and the excess supply of other vaccine makers, the headline seems more onerous than reality," Bank of America said. Morgan Stanley said in a note that it sees the news as unlikely to alter the general timeline for vaccination and the U.S. and would likely be a positive for the mRNA vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna. Jefferies echoed that sentiment in its own note. "Despite use of JNJ on pause, we estimate a vast majority of USA will/can still be vaccinated by summer through mRNA, which are slated to deliver ~400M+ doses by end of Q3 - so in general everything is still fine," Jefferies said in a note. On the individual company front, JPMorgan said it would expect a "limited earnings impact" for Johnson & Johnson from the news. UBS agreed with that analysis but cautioned that this could create negative sentiment around Johnson & Johnson's stock. "As mentioned in the past, we have pegged the financial contribution from the vaccine as de minimus and have not incorporated any benefit to our estimates. However, we expect this will weigh negatively on JNJ sentiment for the time being," the note said. JPMorgan and UBS have hold ratings on J & J shares. UBS also said that this could be an incremental positive for pharmacy chains, which could collect additional fees for giving the two-shot vaccines instead of the one-shot version. UBS has a buy rating on CVS Health. Meanwhile, Piper Sandler reiterated its overweight rating on Moderna, which is holding a virtual "vaccine day" on Wednesday. Bank of America remained neutral on Pfizer and underperform on Moderna. Moderna shares jumped 7% on Tuesday, while Pfizer shares were flat and Johnson & Johnson was down 2%.

Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine at a vaccination center established at the Hilton Chicago O'Hare Airport Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, on March 5, 2021.

Kamil Krzaczynski | AFP | Getty Images

And individual company analysts argued it could be a buying opportunity for competitors and some other related shares.

The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday recommended a pause in Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine, citing a small number of rare blood clot events following the jab. Health officials said they expected the pause to last for several days.