US IPO Weekly Winners & Losers

The IPO market had a respectable +1.7% gain this week, while the S&P 500 was down -1.8%. The year’s six sizable IPOs are all above the offer price. 2021 aftermarket returns have improved. For the first time in weeks we had some “real” IPO filings, from Aleph Group (NYSE: ALEF) and Solta Medical (Nasdaq: SLTA), both fast growing and profitable.

In short, I was hoping to compare a thawing IPO market to the 50° weather we’ve had in the Northeast. However, worrying US inflation data and a sell-off on Friday afternoon reminded us we’re not out of the woods yet.

A number of micro-caps priced IPOs this week, most of which traded down. No major deals are scheduled for next week either, as companies continue to finalize their 2021 numbers.

Peloton was the IPO Index’s winner this week, up +41.0% in a vote of confidence for new CEO Barry McCarthy to right the ship. Buy-now-pay-later lender Affirm tumbled -25.8%, as 2022 guidance failed to excite investors.

News broke that quantum computer startup D-Wave Quantum would go public via SPAC merger with XPOA. We published an in-depth blog post on Friday discussing the 3 quantum computing SPACs. While 9 new SPACs went public this week, SPAC withdrawals and merger terminations continued to roll in as well.