Today marks five years since Pfizer and BioNTech’s game-changing Covid-19 vaccine announcement — a moment that transformed the global investment landscape. As markets celebrate record highs, AJ Bell’s Dan Coatsworth reflects on five former ‘Covid winners’ that have struggled to stay in the spotlight, including PayPal, Croda and Pets at Home.
Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, comments:
“Sunday 9 November 2025 marks the fifth anniversary of a defining moment in stock market history. Pfizer/BioNTech’s announcement of the first effective Covid-19 vaccine gave investors confidence that the world could recover from a major pandemic.
“News of the vaccine breathed new life into stock markets around the world, particularly in the UK, France, Germany and Japan where major indices had previously run out of steam from the initial bounce back after February 2020’s global market crash.
“The prospect of a working vaccine meant investors could start pricing in a return to normality, even if the subsequent inflation and interest rate shock caused a few wobbles along the way.
“Five years on, many markets have recently enjoyed new record highs. However, certain ‘Covid winners’ have been left high and dry, failing to keep up with the market and, in many cases, trading well below the level seen on the eve of the first effective Covid-19 vaccine discovery.
“During Covid times, these companies had something special to offer, making lives easier or more bearable for people stuck at home during the various lockdowns. What investors failed to realise was that the purple patch wouldn’t last long, and for many companies it was simply a case of bringing forward sales rather than creating the ‘new norm’.
“Here we look at five Covid winners that have now gone off the boil as far as the stock market is concerned*.”
- PayPal
Share price since first Covid vaccine: -67%
“People stuck at home during the pandemic found they could relieve their boredom with a spate of retail therapy. Online shopping orders boomed, and PayPal benefited from being a popular payment option. Its earnings soared and so did its share price.
“Unfortunately, PayPal has faced increased competition in recent years which has put the stock into reverse. Google and Apple have eaten its lunch with their payment systems, and Shopify is also muscling in on its territory with a fast-growing one-click checkout service called Shop Pay.”
- Croda
Share price since first Covid vaccine: -57%
“Croda is perhaps best known as a supplier of ingredients for skin care, but what caught investors’ attention five years ago was its role in the fight against Covid.
“Its ingredients are used in a wide range of end products including sanitisers, medicine, medical equipment and face masks. Croda was also a major supplier for ingredients used to develop Covid vaccines and these attributes led to a soaring share price in 2020 and 2021.
“The party had to end eventually, and the past four years have been ugly for shareholders. Not only did Croda’s Covid-related earnings weaken, but it also suffered from lower demand across crop protection markets.
“The rise in inflation and interest rates meant investors were less prepared to pay a premium multiple of earnings for stocks like Croda. At its post-Covid peak in November 2021, the UK chemicals group traded on nearly 40 times forward earnings. Two months ago, the rating had fallen to a mere 15-times.
“Pre-tax profit hit £496 million in 2022, and this year is forecast to be £259 million. That means Croda has suffered a double blow of earnings weakness and a stock de-rating.”
- Pets at Home
Share price since first Covid vaccine: -47%
“There was a surge in pet ownership during the pandemic as more people sought companionship. Furry friends were all the rage for people embracing the ‘work from home’ concept.
“As the world returned to normal and people were brought back into the office, supernormal pet demand tailed off. Pets at Home now finds life harder going, and it hasn’t helped that competition has become more fierce for all things pet related.”
- Atlassian
Share price since first Covid vaccine: -17%
“A lot of people had to adapt to new ways of working as the pandemic took hold. Company bosses had to think about information security and workflow management to ensure tasks were completed efficiently by teams dotted across the country.
“Atlassian had the ideal solution to enable remote workers to work together digitally, and investors lapped up the shares. Unfortunately, investor expectations got too high, and the shares ended up on a sky-high valuation, which was unsustainable.
“Concerns crept in around future growth rates as people returned to the office, and the shares pulled back sharply. They’ve staged a few rallies in recent years, but none were sustainable.”
- Keurig Dr Pepper
Share price since first Covid vaccine: -8%
“The drinks specialist found itself on investors’ radar as the pandemic gripped the world, helped by a big shift in consumer behaviour.
“Keurig Dr Pepper’s coffee business got a major boost from people wanting fancy hot drinks during lockdown, either denied the chance to go to coffee shops or wanting a quality beverage as they adapted to a life of remote working.
“At-home coffee consumption and packaged beverage demand soared – but like many things, the tailwind faded as the world returned to normality. More recently, Keurig Dr Pepper has suffered from investor backlash over its €15.7 billion acquisition of JDE Peet’s, with many people deeming it too pricey.”
