US IPO Weekly Winners & Losers

The IPO market is taking its August break.

With a mounting number of IPOs in the backlog, we’re now waiting for a wave of deals to hit in the fall.

The current mood.

More companies filed for IPOs on Monday (FIGR, BRCB), which gives us a good picture of the post-Labor Day deal calendar. New filings on Friday (NTSK, PTRN) ensure the IPO market maintains that activity throughout September.

The IPO market returned -1.1% this week, compared to the S&P 500's +0.3%. The IPO Index's top performer was solar systems developer Nextracker with a +13.5% gain, while Reddit shed -11.8%.

Explaining the pullback earlier in the week, pundits pointed to a new MIT paper that cast doubt on the immediate ROI of AI, or Sam Altman warning of a bubble, but the truth is that tech investors didn't need much of an excuse to lock in gains from the recent rally. New stocks did get a boost on Friday when the Fed signaled a September rate cut.

Two SPAC mergers actually raised meaningful capital. SPACs are at a 4-year high, but if you follow the industry, you know it's much easier for new SPACs to raise funds than the companies they merge with. The reason? Investors have been burned so often they simply choose to get their $10 back via redemptions. However, newly-listed Kyivstar and BridgeBio Oncology bucked the trend. We're seeing more PIPEs as well. The takeaway: SPACs are attracting higher-quality companies.