US IPO Weekly Winners & Losers

The IPO market had a strong finish to a volatile quarter, up +6.1% this week to trounce the S&P 500’s +3.5%. Both our US and International IPO indexes have risen for three consecutive weeks.

Our newly-released quarterly review describes how a Q1 IPO pickup was cut short by volatility. Read it here.

We’re in a good place heading into Q2. The US IPO Index returned +18.4% this quarter, its best in over two years. Markets are a lot less nervous than even a week ago. The VIX Volatility Index is back to ‘pre-SVB’ levels, hovering close to its 1-year low.

Many IPOs have pushed back their timing, and the Fed can still drop the ball as it tries to juggle inflation, employment, and bank health. But after a few calm weeks the IPO window will gradually reopen.

For now, the US IPO market is awash in Chinese micro-caps. Eight companies listed in the US this week, six from China, one from Japan, and one Bermuda. Six of the eight made our $50mm market cap cutoff and averaged a -1% return, with no big winners or losers.

Our US IPO calendar currently has 12 more micro-caps looking to price in April, mostly from Southeast Asia.

For the first time in weeks, a large US IPO submitted an initial filing, with oil & gas play Kodiak Gas Services looking to raise an estimated $350 million. And three larger IPOs filed amendments this week, making them good IPO candidates for Q2. Savers Value Village filed 2022 financials, with minor updates from Kenvue and Atmus Filtration.