Achilles Therapeutic (ACHL) Stock

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Contributor, Benzinga
September 3, 2021

The market is moving fast and furious with several companies headquartered in the United Kingdom creating tailwinds. Joining the bandwagon is Achilles Therapeutics (ACHL), a clinical immunotherapy company spearheading a revolution in cancer treatment using clonal neoantigens to develop personalized T cell therapies.

Achilles Therapeutics aims to earn about $176 million in its initial public offering (IPO) for its next-generation immune-oncology work. Although the company is headquartered in the U.K., shares will be available on the Nasdaq Global Market as an American Depositary Share (ADS) at a price point of $17 to $19.

With several Phase 1/2 trials for the treatment of recurrent melanoma, investors looking to hop in on this biopharmaceutical company can get in on the action now.

Achilles Therapeutics Financial History

Achilles Therapeutics was born out of Syncona LLP and Cancer Research Technology (CRT) in October 2016, with an intent to build on the research into cancer and cell therapies done by the Royal Free Hospital and the Francis Crick Institute. The collective research gave Achilles a robust platform to develop T-cell therapies targeting clonal antigens — the cell surface proteins unique to each patient’s tumor.

Achilles launched with a successful financing round of $17.5 million and has since left a strong financial trail. Back in 2019, Achilles Therapeutics raised an impressive $120 million Series B round, which propelled it to run human proof-of-concept studies of its personalized T-cell therapies in 2 types of tumors.

Years down the road, Achilles Therapeutics has ATL001 — its leading drug — in the clinic. But according to its Securities and Exchange Commission filing, interim data for its ATL001 drug are expected in the second half of 2022.

With such a positive outlook, Achilles is now asking for $176 million in a Nasdaq IPO to help push further into its clinic and bring more of its pipeline into the fold.

Achilles Therapeutics Potential

Buying a hot public debut can be a mixture of hot and cold, the Achilles Therapeutics IPO features compelling fundamentals. Although it’s currently a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, Achilles is pushing its work tremendously.

In November 2020, Achilles was granted the European patent EP3288581B by the European Patent Office. The covers the treatment of cancer using T cells that have been selectively expanded to target clonal neoantigens. Anticipating to raise about $176 million in its IPO, Achilles is expected to further advance its research into lung cancer therapy.

Chris Ashton, CEO of Achilles Therapeutics, remains very optimistic about the company, reiterating that the company is underpinned by committed investors, world-leading science and leading health institutes. The company’s ambition is to deliver personalized therapies with transformative potential for cancer patients with the greatest need.

How to Buy Achilles Therapeutics IPO (ACHL) Stock

You probably know how to buy stocks, but what about an IPO stock? While there’s little information to work with regarding Achilles Therapeutics, preparing for it to join the fray can give you the edge when its IPO date arrives. Here’s how to get started with Achilles Therapeutics IPO stock.

  1. Pick a brokerage.

    The first step to trading an IPO stock is opening an account with a broker — the financial service provider authorized to fulfill all buy and sell orders for retail investors. While you’ll need to work with an international broker to access most of the companies in the U.K., retail investors have some reprieve since the shares of Achilles Therapeutics will be available on the Nasdaq Global Market.
    International market access is obviously not a problem, but there are many other factors to consider when opening a brokerage account.
    Commissions and fees: Commissions and fees can be a pain when they are a ticket to accessing specific markets or stocks. While most brokers relentlessly advertise free trading access, you should do your due diligence to ensure there are no hidden fees that will eat into your profits.
    Educational resources and research offerings: If you’re still a rookie investor who needs a little hand-holding with IPO stocks, educational resources and research offerings can save you the agony. Some brokers provide comprehensive insights, market commentary and in-depth research on various aspects of the market. You can use these to your advantage to boost your investing knowledge.
    Ease of use: Different brokers design their trading platforms for investors of different levels. New investors should look for a streamlined platform interface while more experienced investors can make do with a platform with sophisticated charting and trading capabilities. You can start by testing out with demo accounts from a few brokers until you find a trading platform that matches your experience level.
    Available products: If you’re only interested in buying Achilles Therapeutics shares, you’ll want to work with a broker that avails the company’s stock. However, if you want to diversify into options and futures, you’ll need to identify a broker that supports these additional products.

  2. Decide how many shares you want.

    Once you’ve identified a broker, you’ll want to map out a trading strategy — which starts with figuring out the number of shares you want. With the price of an Achilles shares projected at $17 to $19, the number of shares you hold in your account will come down to the account size and risk tolerance. The number of shares you’ll own is the dollar amount you want to invest divided by the stock price.

    You don’t have to worry about owning an exact number of shares since most brokers allow you to buy fractional shares of a stock depending on the amount of money you want to invest.

  3. Choose your order type.

    Price and market movements of the stock you’re looking to purchase may cause a slight deviation in the number of shares you initially wanted to own. In this case, you’ll need to select the type of buy order to place. Common order types include:

    A market order executes at or near the current market price and fills faster than any other order type. On the flip side, you have less control over the price you’ll pay per share.
    A limit order instructs the broker to buy a stock at a predetermined price, which gives you maximum control over the price and number of shares you’ll own. The only catch is that your order may never fill if the stock doesn’t reach the predetermined price.
    A stop order is an instruction to buy a stock once its price reaches or passes a specified price, known as the stop price. A stop order executes as a market order when the stop price is attained.

    Depending on your broker, you may also have access to additional, more advanced order types and execution options.

  4. Execute your trade.

    Follow these steps to execute a market order:

    1. Choose an action type (in this case buy).
    2. Enter the number of shares or dollar amount you want to invest.
    3. Hit the Execute button.

    Your broker will fill your buy order according to your instructions and Achilles Therapeutics shares will reflect in your account. You don’t want to deploy a limit order on an IPO stock since prices may be through the roof on opening day and your order will remain unfulfilled.

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Are we Looking at a Cancer Treatment Juggernaut?

While staking on IPOs is more or less a gamble, robust company fundamentals suggest that an Achilles Therapeutics debut will be a successful capital raise. With funding largely meant to advance its lead cancer treatment programs, investors will wait until 2022 for the next data readout of the company’s lead programs — which will potentially be a catalyst to the stock.