US IPO Weekly Winners & Losers

Which IPOs will close out the year in the final stretch of 2022?

That was the Big Question this week, and the answer appears to be: Not a whole lot. No major deals launched, and instead there are just a few micro-caps on the IPO calendar for December, some new and some holdovers.

IPOs have a couple more days to kick off roadshows and still list this year. A dozen sizable IPOs in the pipeline have kept their filings fresh, so it’s possible we’ll see some deals. Energy plays BKV, TXO, and BNTY look like top candidates.

No major SPAC news, though a few deals have upcoming votes. Public SPACs continue to liquidate early to avoid a possible excise tax in 2023, a trend we noted last month.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell had the quote of the week: “It makes sense to moderate the pace of our rate increases as we approach the level of restraint that will be sufficient to bring inflation down.”

Growth stocks staged a relief rally on the news. IPOs led the way, and the Renaissance IPO Index jumped +6.4% this week, compared to a +1.1% gain for the S&P 500.

Investors are anxious for the bear market to end, but Powell tried to tamp down expectations by saying that rates may go higher than expected, and stay higher for longer. And of course, the cost of lower inflation is near-term economic pain.

This week we released our Monthly IPO Review for November. Look out for our 2022 Annual Review later this month.

The week’s IPO winners were beaten-down Chinese companies, led by EV maker Xpeng, up +62.0%. The tech sector mostly traded well, with some higher or lower depending on earnings. Israel-based ZIM Integrated Shipping came in last, off -24.4% amid weakness in shipping spot rates.