A Look At IPOs So Far In 2018

The first half of 2018 brought Dropbox Inc DBX, Spotify Technology SA SPOT and 118 other market newbies raising an aggregate $35.2 billion — the most since 2014.

Bettors on the young blood generally made off nicely, as the average IPO traded 22 percent above its offering price, with the average tech IPO up 53 percent.

Here are the period’s five best-performing and five worst-performing IPOs.

The Best And The Worst

The biggest gainers were either in tech or biotech.

• HUYA Inc - ADR HUYA, a Chinese livestreaming platform, gained 174.1 percent after its May 11 IPO;
• Evolus Inc EOLS, a medical aesthetics firm, rose 143.4 percent after Feb. 8;
• CLPS Inc CLPS, which provides IT solutions for Chinese financial firms, rose 135 percent after May 24;
• Zscaler Inc ZS, a cloud security company, rose 123.4 percent after March 16; and
• Solid Biosciences Inc SLDB, which develops Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatments, rose 117.2 percent after Jan. 26.

Pharma IPOs weren’t uniformly profitable. They also anchored the average.

• Menlo Therapeutics Inc MNLO, a biotech focused on pruritus, conceded 71.5 percent after its Jan. 25 debut;
• Corporacion America Airports SA CAAP, an airport operator in Luxembourg, fell 49.2 percent after Feb. 1;
• Sol Gel Technologies Ltd SLGL, which creates dermatological treatments, fell 43.4 percent after Feb. 1;
• Central PUERTO S A/S ADR CEPU, an Argentinian power company, fell 40 percent after Feb. 2; and
• resTORbio, Inc. TORC, which develops treatments for aging-related diseases, fell 39 percent after Jan. 26.

Who's Up Next?

Street speculation suggests the second half of the year could bring IPOs from the mobility space, particularly companies like Uber and Lyft. Upwork, EventBrite, Airbnb, Pinterest, Palantir Technologies and Ancestry.com are also expected to file at some point.

Anticipation for the market debuts is based mainly on conjecture. Other, lesser-known companies have overtly indicated their interest.

Sonos filed for a confidential IPO in April, Post Holdings Inc POST’s Private Brands did the same in May and SVMK, the parent of SurveyMonkey, followed up in June.

Other companies with pending IPOs include Aurora Mobile, First Western Financial, Inc. and Wah Fu Education Group.

IBEX Holdings, Mereo BioPharma and PolyPid, which had withdrawn IPO filings in the first half, could resurrect their go-public strategies.

Related Links:

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