US IPO Weekly Winners & Losers

After weeks of losses, markets caught a break. The Renaissance IPO Index finished up +0.3% in its first positive week since early February. The S&P 500 also broke its losing streak with a +0.5% return.

The bounce was partially driven by news that the Fed still plans to cut rates twice this year. That was enough to renew some optimism in the IPO market.

Cloud computing firm CoreWeave (Nasdaq: CRWV) is on tap to raise $2.5 billion at a $29+ billion market cap in the coming week. It’s a big deal, for a few reasons:

1. It would be the largest pure-play IPO from an AI company to date. While disruptive tech has been a focal point in several recent listings, none have positioned themselves in the space like CoreWeave has.

2. It should provide some clarity on IPO activity going forward. It’ll also be a bellwether for the scores of freshly-minted AI unicorns in the backlog.

3. It’s a big deal. At $2.5 billion, it would be the largest IPO year to date, and the largest tech deal since late 2023 (Arm).

CoreWeave is striking while the iron is hot – or warm, at least. The company expects to benefit from explosive demand for AI computing power, despite shaky market conditions. That said, it’s targeting a lower valuation than reported at the end of February. We’ll see if it’s enough of a discount to get public investors on board.

Online ticket marketplace StubHub (NYSE: STUB) finally joined the pipeline, filing for an estimated $1 billion IPO. Based on other recent additions, the long-awaited tech rebound may finally be on the horizon.

Precision medicine play Tempus AI led the week’s winners, up +8.9%, while Chinese EV maker ZEEKR slid -13.4% on an earnings miss.