US IPO Weekly Winners & Losers

It was a record week for the IPO market, and it did not disappoint.

Seven sizable issuers went public this week, the most in nearly four years, raising a combined $4.4 billion.

Five of the seven priced above the range, and all finished in positive territory, averaging a solid +17% return. At the same time, a few muted debuts signaled that some of the summer’s “IPO FOMO” is fading into more rational appetite.

• Fintech unicorn Klarna (NYSE: KLAR) priced above the range to raise $1.4 billion in the year’s largest VC-backed IPO to date. After a decent +15% pop, it finished the week up just +7%. That’s underwhelming compared to the likes of Circle and Figma, but it’s still early innings, and a reasonable price for investors who like the story.

• Digital assets made their latest foray into the IPO market with crypto exchange Gemini (Nasdaq: GEMI), which returned +14% after pricing at a 56% premium to the midpoint, a six-year record. Meanwhile, blockchain-powered lender Figure (Nasdaq: FIGR) popped +24% and continued to climb from there.

• Fast-growing coffee chain Black Rock Coffee (Nasdaq: BRCB) was the week’s winner with a +38% pop, an encouraging sign for consumer IPOs in the backlog.

• The first sizable biotech IPO since the beginning of the year, LB Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: LBRX) ended with a solid +12% return. Despite pricing above the range, transit unicorn Via Transportation (NYSE: VIA) initially broke issue before finishing up +8%. LBO’d building services provider Legence (Nasdaq: LGN) rose +9% by offering a reasonable discount to public peers.

The IPO Index gained +4.3% this week, outperforming the S&P 500 (+1.6%). AI stocks dominated the winners, led by CoreWeave and Astera Labs, following Oracle’s strong earnings report and forecasts for AI-related revenue. Data management platform Rubrik landed at the bottom despite an earnings beat on concerns about forward guidance.