Some of the ASX's fastest-growing tech shares are seeing their share prices fall in response to the COVID-19 vaccine update.
COVID-19 news
Global news media is reporting that a vaccine being produced by Pfizer could be 90% effective at stopping COVID-19. Around 44,000 people had been given a trial of the vaccine, and the results are promising when looking at the 94 people who have been infected by COVID-19, according to early results.
This vaccine is actually one of the ones that Australia has signed an agreement about. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said: "The data on our vaccine candidates continues to be positive. We will examine the evidence carefully but the latest results are heartening news."
ASX tech shares being sold off
There are plenty of ASX shares that have risen in response to this news.
For example, in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) there are some ASX shares that have gone up more than 15%. The Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (ASX: URW) share price is up 23%, the Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) share price is up 18% and the Idp Education Ltd (ASX: IEL) share price is up 19.1%.
But there are market commentators that think there are some ASX tech shares that are on the wrong side of the vaccine trade which have been beneficiaries of the pandemic. Marcus Padley said:
"We are making changes to our funds today. What a week – Trump gone and now this. As they say in Top Gun – "Its doesn't get to look any better than this". This is not the day to look for something to worry about. This is a time to run with the Bulls in the pandemic recovery stocks – until they stop running of course – but that's the stock market and you can deal with that when it happens."
These are two of the shares that have fallen today:
Pushpay Holdings Ltd (ASX: PPH)
The Pushpay share price is currently down 5.3%. Pushpay is an ASX tech share that facilitates digital donations, particularly for the US large and medium church sector. It has benefited from the increased adoption of electronic giving.
It has a long-term goal of reaching US$1 billion revenue from the US faith sector. Pushpay management say that its new offering called ChurchStaq – which is the combined offering of Pushpay and Church Community Builder – is proving very popular with users.
Pushpay is still rated as a buy by the Motley Fool Pro team who believed Pushpay was a long-term opportunity before COVID-19 came along.
Redbubble Ltd (ASX: RBL)
The Redbubble share price is down 17.5%. It's an e-commerce site for artists to sell goods like masks, wall art, phone cases and clothes.
Fund manager Joseph Kim recently outlined that Redbubble's growth may not be limited to just the COVID-19 period:
"The opportunity set for Redbubble is compelling. The business already has a global presence with its main markets being North America and Europe. Should the company build a recognisable brand, the potential to be a global e-commerce marketplace for aspiring artists presents significant upside. Recent interest in both social and mainstream media point to growing brand awareness, which helps perpetuate the flywheel effects.
"While RBL has clearly been a "stay-at-home" trade, we believe the business has the opportunity to emerge a longer-term structural winner from COVID-19 should it capitalise in the recent spike in user and customer interest as a result of recent lockdown measures."
