US IPO Weekly Winners & Losers

Is Mobileye (Nasdaq: MBLY) the “IPO Icebreaker” we’ve been waiting for?

The vehicle sensor company checks all the boxes: fast growth, profitability, market leadership, industry tailwinds, and a decent discount to peers. Pitched at the same $15 billion valuation Intel bought it for in 2017, Mobileye should be the year’s largest listing by market cap. It trades on Wednesday.

Micro-caps are still trying to price on a day-to-day basis, due to extra Nasdaq scrutiny and generally poor returns.

Gene editing biotech Prime Medicine (Nasdaq: PRME) fell -9.6% on its debut, the year’s worst for a $100mm deal. While its technology looks promising, the biotech won’t enter clinical trials until 2024-2025 at the earliest. And despite peers trading off this year, Prime priced at a 25% premium to its 2021 private round, for a $1.7 billion value. Ahead of trading, it disclosed that insiders took down the majority of the deal, which can signal a lack of demand.

It looks like Instacart won’t be the headliner unicorn IPO of Q4. A week after the grocery delivery platform slashed its valuation to $13 billion, news hit that it would delay a listing to 2023.

This week we put out two pieces of special commentary, exclusive to IPO Pro: One on IPOs that did well in previous slow periods, and one on SPAC mergers taking longer.

The IPO market was overdue for some good news, and this past week IPOs recovered from last week’s sell-off. The IPO Index finished up +5.9%, vs. +4.7% for the S&P 500.

Tech led the IPO winners this week, with Roblox up +20.4% after it reported strong bookings growth in September. Haircare brand Olaplex gapped down -55.2% after it slashed 2022 forecasts, just two months after reaffirming them.