A boom in initial public offerings that began in 2020 has accelerated in 2021, thanks in large part to record stock prices. Traditional IPOs have raised $155 billion year to date, up 184.7% from a year ago.
There have been 417 IPOs filed so far in 2021, a 106.4% increase compared with the same period in 2020. The health care and technology sectors have been the most active IPO sectors, accounting for a combined 70% of all IPOs in the past 12 months, according to Renaissance Capital.
One of the highest-profile IPOs of September was restaurant-focused software company Toast Inc. (ticker: TOST). Toast priced its $870 million IPO at $40 per share on Sept. 22, but its stock is already trading in the low $50-per-share range less than three weeks after its first day of trading.
While more IPOs are likely coming in October, recent market concern over the Chinese real estate sector, rising energy costs and inflation have made some companies more cautious about new listings. Here are five IPOs to watch:
— iFit Health & Fitness Inc. (IFIT)
— Authentic Brands Group LLC (AUTH)
— Fresh Market Holdings Inc. (TFM)
— Stronghold Digital Mining Inc. (SDIG)
— Allbirds Inc. (BIRD)
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iFit Health & Fitness Inc. (IFIT)
iFit Health & Fitness is a connected home fitness equipment and interactive subscription platform. The company is the top-selling large fitness equipment provider in the U.S. and owner of popular fitness brands iFit, NordicTrack and ProForm.
The company plans to raise $600 million in its IPO, offering 30.8 million shares at a target price range of between $18 and $21 per share. The targeted price range suggests a company valuation of around $6.4 billion.
The company says it has 6.1 million members and 1.5 million fitness subscribers. In its IPO filings, iFit said it made $1.7 billion in sales for the 12 months ending on May 31, 2021.
While the company still plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker IFIT, it postponed its IPO on Oct. 7, blaming unfavorable conditions stemming from market volatility.
Authentic Brands Group LLC (AUTH)
Authentic Brands is a brand management firm that has partnered with shopping mall operators to acquire struggling retailers on the brink of bankruptcy, including Aeropostale, Brooks Brothers and Forever 21. Authentic also owns Juicy Couture, Sports Illustrated and the brand rights to Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley.
Other brand owners have been selling off assets in the past two years, but Authentic has been aggressively buying them. Its most recent acquisition is a $2.5 billion buyout of Reebok from Adidas ADR (ADDYY) in August.
Authentic Brands filed its IPO paperwork with regulators back on July 6. The company reported $211 million in net income in 2020, up from $72.4 million in 2019. From 2016 to 2020, Authentic’s revenue grew from $165 million to $489 million. The company is reportedly seeking a $10 billion IPO valuation.
Authentic hasn’t announced an official IPO date. Given its July filing date, however, the stock could certainly begin trading on the NYSE under the ticker AUTH before the end of October.
[See: 7 Retail Stocks to Buy Ahead of a Summer Shopping Boom.]
Fresh Market Holdings Inc. (TFM)
Gourmet grocery store chain The Fresh Market first went public way back in 2010 but struggled to compete with Kroger Co. ( KR), Whole Foods and other high-growth grocery companies.
Apollo Global Management Inc. ( APO) took Fresh Market private in a $1.4 billion deal in 2016. The buyout price represented about a 30% premium to its IPO price six years earlier.
After five years of restructuring Fresh Market’s business, Apollo looks set to take the company public once again. Fresh Market Holdings officially filed its IPO paperwork on July 16. The company said it is looking to raise up to $100 million in capital, but Renaissance Capital has said it expects that the Fresh Market IPO could raise up to $250 million.
The company reported $1.9 billion in revenue for the 12 months ending in April 2021. Fresh Market has not yet announced an official IPO date, but the stock could begin trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker TFM sometime in October.
Stronghold Digital Mining Inc. (SDIG)
Stronghold Digital Mining is a cryptocurrency mining company focused on Bitcoin. The company wholly owns and operates about 1,800 crypto asset mining machines.
Cryptocurrency prices have skyrocketed since the beginning of 2020 as a younger generation of investors has flocked to the asset, seeing it as an inflation hedge and a modern alternative to gold.
Stronghold reported just $7 million in revenue in the 12 months ending on March 31, 2021. However, the company says it has agreed to deals to acquire another 27,300 mining machines, which could potentially increase its total mining machine count by more than 1,500%.
Stronghold even recently acquired the Scrubgrass power plant in Venango County, Pennsylvania, for $105 million to power its mining computers.
Stronghold filed IPO paperwork on July 27, but it has yet to announce an official listing date. The company plans to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker SDIG.
[Read: How to Invest in Cryptocurrency.]
Allbirds Inc. (BIRD)
Allbirds is a sustainable footwear maker. To produce its shoes, the company uses only naturally derived materials, such as fiber, sugarcane and crab shells.
Allbirds is looking to capitalize on the growing demand for sustainable products, especially among the younger generation of shoppers. The company operates just 27 physical stores, but its warehouse footprint can potentially reach up to 2.5 billion consumers in 35 different countries. Allbirds reported $194.6 million in digital sales in 2020, which accounted for 89% of total revenue.
The company was founded in 2015 and reported $244 million in revenue for the 12 months ending on June 30, 2021. Allbirds generated a net loss of $25.9 million in 2020, up from a net loss of $14.5 million in 2019.
A 2020 fundraising round valued Allbirds at roughly $1.7 billion. The company filed for its IPO on Aug 31, suggesting it could list shares on the Nasdaq under the ticker BIRD as soon as October.
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5 IPO Stocks to Watch in October originally appeared on usnews.com
