Freedom Broker issues trade idea to buy T cell therapy maker Autolus

Freedom Broker has put out a short-term investment idea to buy shares of Autolus Therapeutics, a UK-based and U.S.-listed small-cap developer of gene therapies for cancer and immune disorders. The company is flush with cash, has one regulator-approved drug, and is expected to release early-stage data on another therapy soon. If the results are favorable, Freedom Broker believes the stock could soar.

Freedom Broker has assigned a “buy” rating to Autolus shares at a two-month target price of $1.90 per share — 61% above current quotes. Yesterday, April 8, the stock closed at $1.18 per share, down nearly 10% for the day, though it pared some losses in after-hours trading.

Freedom Broker says Autolus is expected to release the first data from its study of obe-cel — a cellular immunotherapy for systemic lupus erythematosus — on April 23. The treatment involves using the company’s technology to engineer a patient’s own T cells so they express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), enabling them to recognize and eliminate abnormal cells.

A growing number of companies are exploring CAR-T therapies for autoimmune diseases, but none have received regulatory approval yet, Freedom Broker notes. If Autolus delivers positive results, the stock could rally strongly.

At the end of last year, the U.S. FDA approved Autolus’ first drug — Aucatzyl — for treating adults with relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Statistics indicate that the disease relapses in 20-40% of patients.

By the end of 2025, the company plans to seek regulatory approval for Aucatzyl in the UK and EU as well, according to Freedom Broker. However, it will face competition from existing CAR-T therapies for hematologic malignancies, including Kymriah from pharma giant Novartis and Tecartus from Gilead.

Freedom Broker also highlights Autolus’ strong cash position, which finished 2024 at $588 million. That, Freedom Broker says, puts Autolus in a strong position to commercialize Aucatzyl in the U.S., UK, and Europe, while also continuing to develop its pipeline. The company will not require additional equity financing for the next three years, according to Freedom Broker’s estimates.

Freedom Broker’s target price is the most conservative on Wall Street, according to MarketWatch. The average target price among the 11 analysts covering the stock stands at $9.89 per share, implying upside of 700% versus the last closing price.