OCGN Stock News and Price: Ocugen rips higher on WHO optimism

• Ocugen has the rights to distribute Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine in the US and Canada.
• The WHO is meeting on Wednesday to decide whether Covaxin can receive Emergency Use Listing.
• OCGN stock is up more than 600% this year.

Ocugen (OCGN) opened up 8.1% to $15.11 on Tuesday, the day after it surged by 18.1% to $13.98. The company is a little-known biopharma player that studies gene therapies to cure blindness, but that is not the reason OCGN stock is soaring. 

OCGN News: Good news that might not help Ocugen either way

Instead, Ocugen owns the rights to sell Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine in the US and Canada, and the World Health Organization (WHO) is meeting on Wednesday to determine whether to give the vaccine – Covaxin – an Emergency Use Listing (EUL) that would allow it to be purchased for use in more than 100 countries as part of the COVAX Facility. 

If Covaxin is approved, it will greatly benefit Bharat, but will it help Ocugen’s bottom line? The US and Canada are donors rather than beneficiaries of the COVAX Facility, which is an initiative of the Vaccines Alliance.

The more important test for OCGN stock is whether Canada approves its application to distribute there. Likewise, Ocugen is hoping to get the US Food & Drug Administration to approve its phase-3 study for Covaxin.

OCGN key statistics                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

OCGN Stock Chart: Sell the news

Trading as high as $778.20 near its debut in December 2014, Ocugen is a stock that has trended down for years and lost as much as 99% of value in the seven years since. It was trading for mere pennies in 2020 but is up more than 600% this year.

Still, OCGN has a penchant for volatile spikes that make retail traders love it. Just as fast though, these spikes typically diminish within a day or two. At Monday’s closing price of $13.98, the clear target is $16.20. This was the swing high from May 3. That spike was much lower than the February 8 spike that went as high as $18.77. The closing prices on those days were quite close – $15.68 and $15.81. This area may also act as resistance as some traders decide to bail.

FXStreet View: Sell the news. No matter which way the decision goes at the WHO advisory meeting on Wednesday, OCGN stock is likely to sell off as it has in the past. If you are holding on Tuesday, now is the time to book profits.

OCGN daily chart