Looking for a silver lining to that pesky pandemic?
London-based investment bank Barclays put out a note Thursday highlighting a handful of stocks poised for a boost if the H1N1 influenza virus outbreak is as serious as predicted this fall.
Using market data from the first wave of Swine Flu news back in April, analysts at Barclays came up with a list of stocks investors should consider buying and sectors to stay away from, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
In addition to chain retailers like Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS Caremark, Walgreen’s, and Rite Aid, the British bank recommended a couple of local firms: Inverness Medical Innovations Inc. and Haemonetics Corp. as good bets for investors. And here we were stocking up on Purell the whole time.
As we’ve noted before here at MassDevice, Inverness has been on the lips of investors ever since the first reports of the Swine Flu began popping up in April, particularly since the Waltham, Mass.-based company already has a rapid influenza test called BinaxNOW on the market.
But as recently as Aug. 19, Inverness said it was unable to to conclusively prove that BinaxNOW can distinguish between the seasonal influenza A virus and the H1N1 strain.
The BinaxNow test’s “ability to detect human infection with the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus in clinical specimens is unknown,” according to a press release.
Braintree-based Haemonetics provides a suite of blood management products for hospitals, blood banks and plasma collection centers, all of which are certain to be busy if the pandemic surges during flu season.
Other local firms making Barclays’ list were biotech firms Biogen Idec. and Genzyme Corp.
Barclays said investors should consider selling shares of airline stocks, restaurants and resorts.