The Best And Worst IPOs Of 2019

After a sluggish start to the year the, initial public offering activity gained momentum in 2019. 

In the second quarter, Saudi Aramco, Beyond Meat Inc BYND and Uber Technologies Inc UBER all made the list for the biggest IPOs of 2019.

On Dec. 5, the $2-trillion Saudi Aramco IPO marked the world’s biggest share offering ever.

The Saudi Arabian oil company snatched the tag of being the world’s most valuable publicly traded company from Apple Inc. AAPL as its shares began trading on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange.

Uber Technologies UBER, priced on on May 9, opened for trade below its IPO price of $4 and ended their first day of trading lower by 7%.

Multiple concerns contributed to Uber's stock sell-off.

Lyft, Uber Go Public

The timing of Uber's IPO coincided with a general "risk off" pivot amid Sino-American trade war concerns. Rival Lyft Inc LYFT reported first-quarter results ahead of Uber's IPO that were highlighted by a loss of more than $1 billion in the quarter.

Lyft priced its IPO at $72 and opened trading on March 29 at over $87. Almost immediately, the stock was met with selling pressure that drove the price down. Lyft shares were down 0.88% at $43.12 Tuesday.

Pinterest, Slack, Beyond Meat IPOs

Another new issue of interest is Pinterest Inc PINS, a rapidly growing and nearly profitable platform for online image searches.

While Pinterest shares rallied after the April IPO, trading over $36 in August, the highs didn't last. The stock was trading 3.37% higher at $18.72 at the time of publication. 

Slack Technologies WORK made its public debut June 20 on the New York Stock Exchange through a direct listing. The stock opened at $38.50 versus its reference point of $26 per share.

Another winner is the California-based company Beyond Meat Inc BYND, which went public on May 2 and has surged higher ever since. Beyond Meat was priced at $25, but opened at $46 and rocketed higher. Today, Beyond Meat shares are trading at around $74.

WeWork Withdraws IPO

The WeWork IPO disaster also dominated the headlines.

WeWork, the office-sharing startup company, was valued as high as $47 billion in private financing. The company announced in September that it withdrew its S-1 filing, postponing its IPO.

After a tumultuous few weeks, WeWork failed to excite investors who raised concerns about its losses and business model.

Related Links:

A Halftime Report Of The IPO Market In 2019

Saudi Aramco Shares Jump The Maximum Possible 10% On IPO Day One

Photo courtesy of Beyond Meat.