INOVIO Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: INO) has been in the biotech industry for more than 3 decades and mainly handles discovery, research, development and the commercialization of vaccines and immunotherapies. The firm's drug candidates include SynCon immunotherapies and the CELLECTRA delivery system. SynCon helps break the immune system's tolerance of cancerous cells and CELLECTRA facilitates optimized cellular uptake of the SynCon immunotherapies.
INOVIO Pharmaceuticals stock prices have risen steadily since the beginning of 2020. Its stock tallied under $5 in 2019 but has surpassed $15 with a market cap of $2.3 billion. Its COVID-19 vaccine, INO-4800, is still in the preclinical test stage.
How to Buy INOVIO Pharmaceuticals Inc. Stock
INOVIO Pharmaceuticals reported promising data from its COVID-19 vaccine, INO-4800, leading to renewed investor interest. Let's look at how you can invest in INO.
Pick a Brokerage
First, it’s important to find the best brokerage. Many brokerages offer trading services and professional guidance on trading and identifying premarket movers of the day. Here’s our list of recommended online brokers.
- Best For:Active and Global TradersVIEW PROS & CONS:Securely through Interactive Brokers’ website
Decide How Many Shares You Want
Depending on your financial goals, you can determine the total number of shares you want to buy or sell. Let’s say you have put aside $1,000 for investing in INOVIO Pharmaceuticals and the stock quote is $23. You can buy up to 43 shares with $1,000 (1,000/23).
Choose Your Order Type
There are different types of orders you can place based on your needs.
Bid
The bid is the price at which you want to buy the stock. If INOVIO Pharmaceuticals has a price of $23 and your bid price is $22, your order will only be fulfilled if the stock quote drops to that value.
Ask
The ask is the price at which you want to sell the stock. If INOVIO has a price of $23 and you set an ask price of $25, your order will only be fulfilled if the stock quote rises to that value.
Spread
The spread is the difference between the bid and the ask price. If the bid price of INOVIO is $22 and the ask price is $25, the spread is $3.
Limit Order
A limit order lets you trade stocks at a specific price. You can set the limit price of INOVIO at $22 and unless the stock quote reaches that price, the trade will not be executed.
Market Order
A market order lets you buy or sell shares at the price of the stock quote. A market order is the fastest trading order but you might not always get the stock at the price you want.
Stop-Loss Order
A stop-loss order lets you limit your losses on a trade. By setting a stop value of $21 for INOVIO, your order will turn into a sell market order the moment the stock quote reaches that price.
Stop-Limit Order
A stop-limit order combines stop-loss and a limit order. You need to set 2 values, 1 for stop and 1 for limit. The order will be executed if the stock quote drops below the stop value and stays above the limit value.
Execute Your Trade
Once you have decided on the number of shares you want to trade and the order type, you can execute the order to have it fulfilled.
Watch Stock Price
Checking a stock’s share price can only be useful when you take other factors into consideration. As a trader, you want to own stocks from the progressing, innovative company. Stocks under $10 can end up doing well in the market compared to stocks selling at higher than $100. However, this is only always true to an extent.
A company’s stock price only tells you its current market value. If a stock market has more buyers than sellers, it’s only natural that the company’s stock price will climb. And if the company has more sellers than buyers of its stocks, the price will drop. It’s vital that you watch the stock price intently and use it to make wise trading decisions. Investigate each company before deciding to invest in its stock.
INOVIO Pharmaceuticals Stock History
June 1, 2020, started by offering investors new options as they wait for the July 10, 2020 expiration date. The INO stocks have been going up since March 2020. The stocks have experienced occasional dips in the last 5 months. Still, INOVIO was a promising small-cap stock in the biotech industry before the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. In March, shares stumbled after INOVIO released its Q4 2019 earnings. The figures were not impressive.
The INO-4800 is playing an essential role in its stock prices. The INO-4800 has the potential of making the company a fortune. INOVIO is one of several biotech companies working on the COVID-19 vaccine. The company announced in January 2020 that it was working on a vaccine for the virus and started clinical testing in April 2020.
Pros to Buying INOVIO Stock
The INO stocks look promising. But if you are not a scientist getting a 100% certainty of the fate of the company in the biotech industry can be a challenge. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supports INOVIO. The company also received FDA approval for its COVID-19 vaccine to begin its preclinical trials. INOVIO’s work on the vaccine is supported by CEPI, which is a vaccine group based in Norway.
INOVIO uses Cellectra, which is an electric device to deliver the vaccine. In May 2020, the company released a paper that claimed the vaccine had positive reports. INOVIO Senior VP Kate Broderick, during an interview with 60 Minutes, said the vaccine had been developed in just 3 hours.
The company has also had very successful reports in the medical world. It has been working on a treatment for Glioblastoma with Regeneron. INOVIO has kept many patients suffering from Glioblastoma alive for 1 year by combining treatment with Regeneron. The treatment involves using INOVIO's drug INO-5401 and Regeneron drug known as Libtayo.
INOVIO CEO J. Joseph Kim stated that the company would need more funding to reach its target market. He also stated that Phases 2 and 3 trials for INO-4800 will have results available in 1 year. The company has also signed a large-scale production agreement of the INO-4800 vaccine with Richter-Helm BioLogics. Richter-Helm BioLogics is a German contract manufacturer. In January 2020, the company was awarded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations a grant worth $9 million.
Cons to Buying INOVIO Stock
Investors lacking scientific knowledge may be at a loss in determining INOVIO stocks. Senior VP Kate Broderick stated that the company had taken 3 hours to come up with the INO-4800 vaccine using a special computer algorithm. However, the computer algorithm hasn't been mentioned in any of its Securities and Exchange Commission filings. This caused Cintron Research to question the reliability.
According to Cintron Research, INOVIO has been in the industry for more than 30 years with no success. It accused INOVIO of issuing press conferences on scary diseases, insider sales and dilutive stock offerings. INOVIO is reported using guinea pigs and mice for its INO-4800 vaccine, while competitors like Moderna are in Phase 3 stage with its vaccine.
Are INOVIO Stocks Worth Buying?
Evaluating any COVID-19 vaccine candidate is very challenging to many investors especially if you’re not a biotech expert. If you want to buy INO stocks, don’t look at the Q1 reports of the company — they are disappointing, showing INO stocks in the stocks under $20 category. Investing in INO stocks means trusting the success of the INO-4800 vaccine.