Freedom Broker issues short-term idea to buy biotech Altimmune ahead of trial results

Freedom Broker recommends buying shares of the small-cap biotech Altimmune. It expects that in late June the company will publish positive clinical trial results for its drug for fatty liver disease, resulting in a short-term boost to the stock. Freedom Broker believes it could jump 17% versus current quotes to $7.90 per share in the next two months. 

Investors can take advantage of Altimmune's expected gains, says Freedom Broker. At the end of June, the company is set to release results from phase II clinical trials of its drug pemvidutide, which treats metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). This is a severe form of fatty liver disease that can lead to cancer and cirrhosis. 

Freedom Broker thinks the data could turn out to be upbeat and spark share price growth in the short term. It has set a two-month target price for Altimmune of $7.90 per share. This implies upside of 17% versus the close yesterday, June 10.

Altimmune develops drugs to treat obesity and liver disease. Pemvidutide is its lead product candidate. It is said to be a novel, investigational, peptide-based GLP-1/glucagon dual receptor agonist. Besides MASH, it is expected to be able to treat obesity, alcohol use disorder, and alcohol-associated liver disease. The company initially focused on obesity therapies, but relatively modest results forced a change in direction, Freedom Broker notes. 

Competing MASH drug candidates, notably efinopegdutide from pharma giant Merck and survodutide from Boehringer Ingelheim, have already shown good results, Freedom Broker points out. Whoever wins the race will go on to be the first to compete with Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, whose drug received approval from regulators in 2024 and marked a breakthrough in MASH treatment.  

Altimmune is up 7.7% in the last 12 months but down 6.5% year to date. 

Nine Wall Street analysts rate the stock a «buy» versus only one «hold,» according to MarketWatch. There are no «sell» recommendations. The average target price of $22.38 per share implies 246% upside versus the closing price yesterday.