A boom in U.S. initial public offerings that began in 2020 has accelerated in 2021. With stock prices near all-time highs, IPOs have raised $137.6 billion so far in 2021, a 76% increase over last year’s total.
There have been 388 IPOs priced this year, a 75% increase from 2020. The health care and technology sectors have been particularly active, accounting for a combined 68% of all IPOs in the past 12 months, according to Renaissance Capital, a firm that tracks IPO activity.
The highest-profile IPO of November was electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive Inc. (ticker: RIVN). Rivian priced its $13 billion IPO at $78 per share Nov. 10, but the stock surged as high as $179.47 within days of its first trading session.
Despite concerns over supply chain disruption, inflation and the omicron variant of COVID-19, investors expect the IPO market to remain hot in December. Here are five IPO stocks to watch:
— HashiCorp Inc. (HCP)
— Chobani Inc. (CHO)
— Samsara Inc. (IOT)
— Nu Holdings Ltd. (NU)
— Fresh Market Holdings Inc. (TFM)
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HashiCorp Inc. (HCP)
HashiCorp is a cloud infrastructure platform specializing in data center management. HashiCorp’s customers include businesses of all sizes and industries, and the company says its products had approximately 100 million downloads during the fiscal year ended in January 2021.
HashiCorp, founded in 2012, reported $286 million in revenue for the 12 months ended Oct. 31, 2021. The company says revenue rose 49% year-over-year in the second quarter, and 98% of that revenue came from subscriptions. HashiCorp reported about 2,100 customers in July, including a few high-profile names such as Fox Corp. (FOX, FOXA), General Motors Co. (GM) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).
On Nov. 29, the company said it plans to raise $1.1 billion by offering 15.3 million shares priced between $68 and $72. At $70 per share, the company would achieve a fully diluted market value of $14.2 billion, according to Renaissance Capital.
HashiCorp will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol HCP and expects to hold its IPO during the week of Dec. 6.
Chobani Inc. (CHO)
Chobani is a leading Greek yogurt brand that sells products in roughly 95,000 U.S. retail locations. The company’s key retail partners include Walmart Inc. (WMT), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Target Corp. (TGT).
Chobani’s Nov. 17 filing suggests a $100 million IPO, but Renaissance estimates that the company could raise up to $1.5 billion. In July, Reuters reported that Chobani’s IPO could value the company in the $10 billion range.
Chobani reported $1.5 billion in revenue for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2021. The company said revenue grew 5.2% from 2019 to 2020, but its net losses more than tripled to $58.7 million due to heavy investments in its business.
Chobani has not yet announced an official IPO date, but it plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol CHO.
Samsara Inc. (IOT)
Samsara develops “internet of things,” or IoT, products. The company’s cloud offering consists of data platforms and applications that allow businesses to leverage IoT data. The company has more than 13,000 core customers, and subscriptions accounted for about 98% of its total revenue in the past two fiscal years.
In its Nov. 19 IPO filing, Samsara reported $379 million in revenue for the 12 months ended Oct. 31, 2021. The company was valued at $5.4 billion during a private fundraising round in May 2020.
Samsara reported a net loss of $102 million in the nine months to Oct. 30, a significant improvement on the $174 million loss it reported in the same period of 2020.
Samsara has not announced an official IPO date, but the company plans to list on the NYSE under the ticker IOT.
Nu Holdings Ltd. (NU)
Nu Holdings is an international online banking company focused on Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. The company has one of the world’s largest digital banking platforms and serves more than 48 million customers in Latin America.
Nu plans to dual list in the U.S. and Brazil. The company said it expects to raise $2.6 billion in its IPO by selling 289.2 million shares. Some of those shares will be Brazilian depositary receipts that will trade on the NYSE under the ticker NU. The company’s proposed IPO price range of $8 to $9 per share would value the company at roughly $41.5 billion. Nu originally planned to raise $3 billion by pricing shares between $10 and $11 but decreased its expectations in an amended Securities and Exchange Commission filing Nov. 30. The company blamed changing market conditions for the decreased fundraising goal.
Wall Street legend Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B) invested $500 million in Nu’s last private fundraising round, which valued the company at about $30 billion in June.
Nu reported $1.3 billion in revenue for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2021. The company filed its IPO paperwork Nov. 1, but it has not yet announced an IPO date.
[See: Upgraded Stocks to Buy.]
Fresh Market Holdings Inc. (TFM)
Fresh Market Holdings filed its IPO paperwork July 16, but investors have since had few updates on when to expect the stock to begin trading.
The gourmet grocery store chain is hoping its next run at the public markets will be better than its previous listing. The company went public in 2010 but struggled to fend off competition from Kroger Co. (KR), Whole Foods and others. Apollo Global Management Inc. (APO) took Fresh Market private in 2016 in a $1.4 billion deal that valued the company at just a 30% premium to its IPO price six years earlier.
Apollo has spent the last five years restructuring the company’s business, and its SEC filing suggests that it could raise up to $100 million, but Renaissance Capital estimates that the IPO will raise closer to $250 million.
Fresh Market Holdings reported $1.9 billion in revenue for the 12 months ended in April 2021. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker TFM.
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