ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Directors’ trades (with extra Pfiz)

How to trade a vaccine? Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla had a strategy (hit sell), following news the global pharma giant was closing in on a winning solution.

More broadly, markets have reacted positively to the Pfizer news, but with a twist: cyclical ‘value’ stocks such as banks climbed off the mat with a barnstorming rally, at the expense of post-Covid winners such as tech and ecommerce.

Reality bit overnight — global COVID-19 cases are still rising (and any working vaccine will face a major distribution challenge).

Sure enough, big US tech rebounded. So, is the stage is set for a showdown between more COVID-19 stimulus (tech/growth stocks) and a return to normal economic activity (value stocks)?

For his part, Bourla didn’t wait to find out.

In a fine example of a Directors’ Trade, the Pfizer CEO promptly sold $US5.6m of his shares this week — equivalent to 61.8 per cent of his stake in the company.

The sale was part of a pre-scheduled plan that was first filed publicly on August 19. Nevertheless, the optics are…interesting.

Local markets followed the Wall Street trend overnight, as the big end of town traded flat while the ASX Emerging Companies Index outperformed with a 1.3 per cent gain.

WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Thursday November 12:

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.

Indium-focused explorer Crater Gold Mining (ASX:CGN) was top of the pops, after its share price went parabolic at the opening bell on no news.

Stock watchers will be on the lookout for CGN’s “pending announcement”, after it went into a trading halt following an early gain of more than 200 per cent.

Also near the head of the winner’s list was engineering firm EVZ Limited (ASX:EVZ), which rose more than 60pc following a positive trading update.

The company flagged half-year underlying earnings of $3m to $3.5m, a “significant improvement on the disappointing results posted for the corresponding period in FY20”.

LOSERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Thursday November 12:

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.