Interesting article - see key points bold underline below.
Investors are continuing to pile into hand sanitiser play Zoono (ASX:ZNO) as if the China coronavirus epidemic still has months to run.
The company signed a three-year distribution agreement with fellow ASX small cap Eagle Health (ASX:EHH) for its skin and surface antibacterial products, which will deliver an initial $NZ400,000 ($598,028).
Eagle Health is on the hook to spend a minimum of $NZ1.5m in the first year, $2.3m in the second, and $3.1m in the third.
Zoono still doesn’t have hard data showing its antibacterial formulation works against COVID-19, however.
It is still undergoing testing in a German lab to discover whether it’s effective against coronavirus, as the only testing done to date was in 2014 against bovine coronavirus, a commonly used surrogate for the real thing.
The company also released its half year figures for the six months to December 31, which shows how the company is performing without the epidemic-boost of COVID-19. Revenue rose 144 per cent to $NZ1.7m and the loss shrank by 47 per cent to $NZ727,944, compared to the same period in 2018.
Zoono attributed the better figures to improved sales and distribution systems, and cost cutting.
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, Zoono was leaning on the African Swine Fever epidemic which is sweeping the world. It says testing against the disease has been successful and supply contracts may convert this half on the back of that.
In the months since the end of the first half — the months that include the COVID-19 bounce — Zoono says online sales average between $NZ30,000 and $NZ50,000 per day and its cash balance has risen by $NZ1m to $NZ4m.
But the market cap is now $272m, far outstripping the company’s revenue generation to date, suggesting the people buying into Zoono believe the coronavirus epidemic and the money making opportunities from it will continue for some time.
China says the infection rate within the country is slowing. Yesterday it said the death toll reached 2,009, and the total number of cases was at least 75,081.
Wall Street analysts on the other hand are pessimistic.
Raymond James analysts are concerned the outbreak won’t recede soon and will get worse before it gets better, CBS News reported.
“It seems as though the market is under-appreciating the potential dangers and what the key government leaders on the virus are saying,” Raymond James analysts said in a note to investors.
The analysts believe the actual number of cases in China to be 400,000 or more, following interviews with public health experts and other sources.
source
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