10 Best Penny Stocks to Buy and Hold Under $5

8. Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALLO)

On April 15, 2026, H.C. Wainwright lowered its price target on Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALLO) to $11 from $12 while maintaining a Buy rating following the pricing of its previously announced $175M common stock offering. The firm said the recent share pullback appears “unwarranted” and views it as an attractive entry point.

Meanwhile, Jefferies analyst Roger Song raised his price target to $10 from $6 and kept a Buy rating after interim data from the Phase 2 ALPHA3 trial of cemacabtagene ansegedleucel (cema-cel) in first-line consolidation for large B-cell lymphoma exceeded expectations. The firm sees meaningful upside potential based on the early results.

On April 12, 2026, Allogene reported data from a planned interim futility analysis of the ALPHA3 trial. At the protocol-defined cutoff—triggered when the 24th patient completed a Day 45 MRD assessment—58.3% of patients treated with cema-cel achieved minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity versus 16.7% in the observation arm, a 41.6 percentage point difference. Prior literature suggests that a 25%–30% MRD clearance gap could translate into meaningful clinical benefit. Plasma ctDNA levels declined by a median of 97.7% from baseline in the cema-cel arm, compared to a 26.6% increase in the observation group.

The therapy was generally well tolerated, with no serious treatment-related adverse events reported and no cases of cytokine release syndrome, neurotoxicity, or graft-versus-host disease. Ten of 12 patients in the treatment arm were managed entirely in outpatient settings, contrasting with broader CAR-T experiences where hospitalization rates typically range from 70% to 90%. Although based on a small sample size, baseline characteristics indicated that the cema-cel arm included a higher proportion of patients with more aggressive disease features.

Allogene Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALLO) develops allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases.