Meme Stock to Watch as We Head Into the New Year

 

Ocugen — $OCGN

Biopharmaceutical company Ocugen OCGN, which focuses mainly on gene therapies to cure diseases that cause blindness, has had its ticker trend multiple times since the beginning of October.

Figure 3: Ocugen holds the rights to commercialize Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine in North America.

AFP

The company has become a meme focus, even though it is currently 70% off its early-November peaks. The most likely catalyst behind the price surge is the anticipated World Health Organization’s approval of a COVID-19 vaccine called Covaxin.

Ocugen is a co-development partner with Bharat Biotech on the vaccine, and it holds the rights to commercialize Covaxin in North America. Stage-3 results showed the drug to be efficient against the Delta variant, which will be helpful during the approval process.

However, the vaccine’s efficacy against the Omicron variant is still a big unknown. Ocugen plans on releasing its own study on the vaccine’s efficiency against the new variant as soon as the work has been completed.

Meanwhile, the stock remains a bear target. OCGN has 56 million shares shorted, representing a whopping 25% of the float. While heavy shorting signals skepticism and caution, it can also set up shares for a short squeeze, which could be triggered by massive buy volumes.

Eventual vaccine approval and a proven efficiency against the Omicron variant could be the catalyst that sparks just that type of bullish short-term activity.

https://www.thestreet.com/memestocks/other-memes/2-meme-stocks-to-watch-as-we-head-into-the-new-year