US IPO Weekly Winners & Losers

Rising IPO returns were the lead story this week, partly due to the lack of deals.

Even after Friday’s pullback, the Renaissance IPO Index ended the week up +2.5% while the S&P 500 dipped -0.3%. Software and renewables dominated the IPO winners, led by AI analytics provider Palantir (+28.2%) which reported strong growth. Coffee chain Dutch Bros traded off -20.3% after it showed negative same-store sales.

As expected, Kenvue's (NYSE: KVUE) successful offering didn’t open the floodgates. Instead, the deal calendar will return gradually. We do see some positives, and aside from returns, our IPO volatility indicator recently touched its lowest point since October 2021.

No big initial filings this week, which points to muted activity post-Memorial Day. However, thrift operator Savers Value Village (NYSE: SVV), restaurant chain Fogo Hospitality (NYSE: FOGO), and solar play MN8 Energy (NYSE: MNX) filed Q1 numbers, making them the most likely IPO candidates.

Vietnam-based EV maker VinFast Auto is one of the biggest US IPOs on file, but now it plans to go public in one of the biggest SPAC mergers of all time. Set to merge with Black Spade Acquisition (NYSE: BSAQ), it’s an unusual deal. First, BSAQ had originally targeted the entertainment industry in China. Second, the SPAC has only $169 million in its trust, but the deal values VinFast at $27 billion, with no mention yet of a PIPE. That’s 43x 2022 sales, well above peers like Lucid (17x), Rivian (2x), and Tesla (6x). Stay tuned.