By Corrie Driebusch
The U.S. IPO market, unstoppable for nearly a year, has hit a
speed bump.
Shares of fast-growing companies have fallen increasingly out of
favor with investors. Many newly listed firms, whose stocks jumped
after their initial public offerings, have dropped below their IPO
prices. At least three companies, leery of jumping into a volatile
stock market, postponed their IPOs after the S&P 500 started
the week with its biggest three-day swoon in nearly seven
months.
Some investors and bankers think next week could be a turning
point. If the stock market calms and the public debuts of
celebrity-backed Swedish oat-milk maker Oatly Group AB and software
company Squarespace Inc. go well, that could shore up confidence in
IPOs, they say. If volatility continues and those offerings sputter
or get postponed, the IPO market could pump the brakes.
"Volatility makes deals more harrowing to launch," said Eddie
Molloy, co-head of equity capital markets for the Americas at
Morgan Stanley. "Ultimately what we'd like to see is stability in
the markets and see deals perform and hold their performance.
Investors making money off of the latest deal is always helpful for
the next deal."
For the past 11 months, that has been the case. The IPO market,
which raised a record $168 billion in 2020, has already raised a
staggering $158 billion in 2021, according to Dealogic data through
Thursday. But the tides turned recently as fears of inflation came
into focus and caused investors to seek havens outside of growth
companies.
Shares of Honest Co., the consumer-goods business co-founded by
Jessica Alba, jumped 44% to $23 in their first day of trading
earlier this month. The stock closed Thursday at $14.91, below its
$16 IPO price. The biggest IPO of the year by money raised, South
Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Inc., now trades below its IPO
price. So does dating-app operator Bumble Inc., whose stock is down
27% this week.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc. went public through
a direct listing this year, an increasingly popular way for
companies to go public that sidesteps the traditional IPO process.
Though direct listings don't have an IPO price, Coinbase trades
below where it landed at the end of its first day in the
market.
On average, U.S.-listed IPOs this year -- not including
nontraditional methods like direct listings or special-purpose
acquisition companies -- were up 2.1% from their IPO prices through
Thursday's close, according to the latest data available from
Dealogic. By comparison, the S&P 500 had risen 9.5% this year
through Thursday's close. The Nasdaq Composite, known for being
stacked with growth companies similar to those looking to go
public, was up just 1.8% this year through Thursday. Both indexes
posted sharp gains Friday.
"You had this flood of IPOs and SPACs, and there was a period
when you could do no wrong," said Rick de los Reyes, co-portfolio
manager of the T. Rowe Price Multi-Strategy Total Return Fund.
"It's a tough market now, with really high-growth companies out of
favor."
A healthy IPO market is important to pave the way for some big
potential debuts later this year, including trading app Robinhood
Markets Inc. and grocery-delivery company Instacart Inc. SPACs are
also a huge part of the picture: Hundreds of them, managing more
than $100 billion, also have mandates to merge with private
companies to bring them public. A market where investors are wary
of participating in deals will make that task much more difficult,
too, bankers and fund managers say.
In May, 13 SPACs unveiled mergers, and of those, only one was
trading above its IPO price earlier this week. Many fund managers
heavily invested in technology companies have watched their
portfolios fall sharply in recent weeks, making them less willing
to take chances on IPOs or private investments in public equity,
known as PIPEs, which are sometimes critical for completing SPAC
mergers.
It has been a swift cool-down for the burgeoning market. Heading
into 2021, the U.S. IPO market was on fire, with companies rushing
to launch IPOs after years of eschewing the public markets. They
were quickly rewarded: The average first-day pop for an IPO last
year was a robust 17%, and many kept rising sharply from there.
Squarespace and Oatly are on deck next week to test investor
appetite for sizable, name-brand companies tapping the public
markets. Oatly, backed by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and
Natalie Portman as well as private-equity juggernaut Blackstone
Group Inc. and lead investor Verlinvest, is seeking to raise
roughly $1.35 billion in its IPO and targeting a valuation of about
$10 billion.
Squarespace, which is planning a direct listing, boasted an
enterprise value of $10 billion in a March fundraising round.
Oatly is set to begin trading on Thursday, while Squarespace's
listing is planned for Wednesday, according to people familiar with
the matter. While investors will get a health check on the IPO
market in the form of those debuts, Tim Creedon, director of global
equity research at Neuberger Berman, said the issue of inflation is
unlikely to be resolved so quickly.
"The question everyone is trying to get their arms around is
inflation, and what are we willing to pay for growth going
forward," Mr. Creedon said.
Write to Corrie Driebusch at corrie.driebusch@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 14, 2021 14:59 ET (18:59 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.