We recently started a series called “Penny Stock of the Day”. These ideas are geared towards traders with an extremely high risk appetite.
Our Penny Stock of the Day is chosen by screening for stocks under $5 and then applying technical analysis on the shortlisted set of penny stocks showing unusual volume. When making these trades, please make sure to pay vigilant attention to pricing moves and have a strict stop loss in place to avoid significant losses.
Penny Stock of the Day: Acurx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACXP)
Today’s penny stock pick is the clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, Acurx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ACXP).
Acurx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. develops antibiotics to treat bacterial infections in the United States. The company’s lead antibiotic candidate is ibezapolstat, a novel mechanism of action that targets the polymerase IIIC enzyme that is in Phase 2b clinical trial to treat patients with clostridium difficile infections. It also develops ACX-375C, a potential oral and parenteral treatment targeting gram-positive bacteria, including methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin resistant enterococcus (VRE), and drug-resistant streptococcus pneumoniae (DRSP), as well as B. anthracis.
Website: https://www.acurxpharma.com/
Latest 10-K report: https://ir.acurxpharma.com/all-sec-filings/content/0001104659-26-027052/0001104659-26-027052.pdf
Analyst Consensus: As per TipRanks Analytics, based on 3 Wall Street analysts offering 12-month price targets for ACXP in the last 3 months, the stock has an average price target of $17.00, which is nearly 253% upside from current levels.
Analysts | Source: TipRanks.com
Potential Catalysts / Reasons for the Hype:
- The company’s lead candidate, Ibezapolstat (IBZ), showed a 96% clinical cure rate in treating acute CDI with zero recurrence in patients, all while sparing the healthy gut microbiome. Acurx’s Program in the broader CDI patient population is ready to advance to Phase 3 International Clinical Trials.
- ACXP ended 2025 with $7.6 million in cash (compared to $3.7 million at the end of 2024) and zero long-term debt, strengthening its balance sheet.
- Ibezapolstat has received both Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) and Fast Track designations from the FDA for CDI treatment.
- First patient enrollment in the rCDI pilot set for Q4 2026 is anticipated to be a key future catalyst.
- In February 2026, the USPTO granted a new patent for their Pol IIIC inhibitors, extending their protection to December 2039.
- During the March 13 earnings call Q&A, CEO David Luci confirmed the company is in “detailed discussions” with U.S. government agencies, specifically BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority).
On analyzing the company’s stock charts, there seem to be multiple bullish indications…
Bullish Indications
#1 Downtrend Channel Breakout: The daily chart shows that the stock has broken out of a downtrend channel, which is shown as purple lines. This is a possible bullish indication.
ACXP – Daily Chart
#2 Bullish ADX and DI: The ADX indicator shows bullishness as the +DI line is above the -DI line, and the ADX line is currently moving higher from below the +DI and -DI lines.
#3 Price above MA: The stock is currently above its 50-day SMA, indicating that the bulls have currently gained control.
#4 MACD above Signal Line: In the daily chart, the MACD (light blue color) is currently above the MACD signal line (orange color). This indicates a possible bullish setup.
#5 Above Support Area: The weekly chart shows that the stock is currently trading above a support area, which is marked as a pink dotted line.
ACXP – Weekly Chart
#6 Bullish Stoch: The %K line is above the %D line of the stochastic in the weekly chart, indicating possible bullishness.
Recommended Trade (based on the charts)
Buy Levels: If you want to get in on this trade, the ideal buy level for ACXP is above the price of $4.90.
Target Prices: Our first target is $8.30. If it closes above that level, the second target price is $11.00.
Stop Loss: To limit risk, place a stop loss at $2.90. Note that the stop loss is on a closing basis.
Our target potential upside is 69% to 124%.
For a risk of $2.00, our first target reward is $3.40, and the second target reward is $6.10. This is a nearly 1:2 and 1:3 risk-reward trade.
In other words, this trade offers 2x to 3x more potential upside than downside.
Potential Risks / Red Flags:
- The company has a history of net losses.
ACXP – Statements of Operations
- The CDI space has intense competition. The FDA has recently approved groundbreaking microbiome-based therapeutics specifically designed to prevent recurrent C. diff, such as Vowst (Seres Therapeutics) and Rebyota (Ferring Pharmaceuticals).
- The company needs substantial additional funding to continue research and development. Raising additional capital may cause dilution to existing stockholders, restrict the company’s operations or require relinquishing of rights to its technologies or product candidates.
- Despite being a loss-making company, the executives are being paid significant compensation.
ACXP -Executive Compensation
- Acurx is essentially a binary bet on Ibezapolstat (IBZ). While they have early-stage preclinical programs (like ACX-375C targeting MRSA and VRE), IBZ is their only clinical-stage asset. If the FDA ultimately rejects IBZ, or if the upcoming Phase 3 trials fail to meet their primary endpoints, the company currently has no fallback clinical assets.
- In August 2025, ACXP had to execute a 1-for-20 reverse stock split to regain compliance with Nasdaq’s minimum bid price requirement. A reverse split is generally considered as a red flag by institutional investors, signaling distress.
As you can see, today’s featured penny stock offers big upside potential… but it also comes with a number of risks and red flags. As always, when dealing with penny stocks, we advise caution before entering into such high-risk ventures. Remember to think before you trade… understand the risks… and if you decide to trade, stick to your stop-losses!
Happy Trading!
Trades of the Day Research Team
READ BEFORE TRADING PENNY STOCKS: The allure of penny stocks lies in their potential to deliver massive gains in a short period of time. However, in exchange for that opportunity, most penny stocks carry tremendous risk. They can be extremely volatile and are susceptible to “pump and dump” schemes and fraud.
Unlike regular stocks, the financial condition of most penny stock companies can be extremely difficult to analyze, as the majority of such stocks are traded on over-the-counter (OTC) exchanges, which are typically less transparent and less regulated than the major exchanges. In fact, in the penny stock space, it’s often easier to spot warning signs and red flags than it is to identify a sound investment. Nevertheless, we do our best to identify short-term trade opportunities in this exciting space because we know some of our readers are looking for high-risk, high-reward ideas. We just urge you to make sure you fully understand the risks before making any of these trades.
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Source: Trades of the Day
