The IPO Buzz: Holiday Wish List

(Editor’s Note: This column was updated Tuesday morning, Dec. 1, with the news of Airbnb’s IPO filing terms and trade date.)

Seven deals are on this week’s IPO Calendar.  But IPO investors are focused on their holiday wish list. That list – topped off by unicorns – took a step closer to reality today when DoorDash (DASH proposed) filed terms for its $2.64 billion IPO and landed on next week’s IPO runway for a Dec. 9 debut. Airbnb (ABNB proposed) followed suit on Tuesday, Dec. 1, by filing terms for its $2.44 billion IPO and flew onto the IPO Calendar for a debut on Dec. 10 – quickly confirming excellent reporting over the weekend by Barron’s and The Wall Street Journal.

Among the other unicorns waiting in the wings to go public is ContextLogic (WISH proposed), which operates Wish.com, a platform for ultra bargain hunters. (A unicorn is a privately held company with a valuation of at least $1 billion or more.)

“It’s all about Airbnb and DoorDash – don’t kid yourself,” a veteran IPO trader said, summing up the market’s mood this week.

The strong U.S. stock market is the gift that keeps on giving, as far as the IPO market is concerned. The Dow Jones Industrial Average topped the 30,000 mark for the first time last week, putting it on track for its best month in 33 years, according to The Wall Street Journal. Both the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite Index ended Friday’s brief trading session at record closing highs. The NASDAQ is up almost 35 percent so far this year.

“Keep your eye on the tape,” John E. Fitzgibbon, the founder and editor of IPOScoop, told Newsweek in a pre-Thanksgiving interview.  “If you have a good stock market, you’ll have a good IPO market.”

Ozon Holdings PLC (OZON), also known as “Russian’s Amazon,” made a strong debut on Nov. 24, when it closed its first day of trading at $40.18 – up about a third from its IPO price of $30. Ozon closed the holiday-shortened week at $40, up 33.33 percent.

As the Thanksgiving holiday weekend was winding down, only two IPOs were scheduled for pricing this week. After the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission raised the shades on its filing window early this morning, four more names landed on this week’s calendar – and three lined up for next week.

The Week Ahead

Bankers expect to raise about $1.19 billion from the seven IPOs set for pricing this week. Let’s take a look at these deals, organized by pricing and trading dates.

Monday pricing and trading:

Seaport Global Acquisition Corp. (SGAMU) is a New York-based special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), or blank-check company, that intends to focus on  companies emerging from a restructuring or a distressed situation. Its management team believes that many quality companies will be in this category as a result of the financial disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is an IPO of 12.5 million units at $10 each. B. Riley Securities is the sole book-runner.

Note: The company announced the pricing of its IPO on Monday morning. The stock began trading Monday on the NASDAQ.

Wednesday night pricing for Thursday trading:

Kinnate Biopharma (KNTE proposed) is a San Diego-based clinical biopharmaceutical company whose most advanced product candidate is a drug to treat lung cancer, melanoma and other solid tumors.

This is an IPO of 10 million shares at $16 to $18 each to trade on the NASDAQ. Goldman Sachs, SVB Leerink, Piper Sandler and Wedbush PacGrow are the joint book-runners.

Live Oak Acquisition Corp. II (LOKB.U proposed) is a Memphis, Tennessee-based SPAC that intends to identify target companies with an enterprise value of $500 million to $1.5 billion.

This is a SPAC IPO of 20 million units at $10 each to trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Jefferies and BofA Securities are the joint book-runners.

Thursday night pricing for Friday trading:

SEER, Inc. (SEER proposed) is a Redwood City, California-based life sciences company intent on developing the first-in-class liquid biopsy products to detect cancer and neurological diseases at early pre-symptomatic stages. Its proteome-analysis technology is called the Proteography Product Suite.

This is an IPO of 8.8 million shares at $16 to $18 each to trade on the NASDAQ. J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities and Cowen are the joint book-runners.

17 Education & Technology Group (YQ proposed) is a Chinese education technology company with an “in-school + after-school” integrated model. The company is based in Beijing.

This is an IPO of 27.4 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) at $9.50 to $11.50 each to trade on the NASDAQ. Goldman Sachs (Asia), Morgan Stanley and BofA Securities are the joint book-runners.

Sigilon Therapeutics  (SGTX proposed) is a clinical biotechnology company whose most advanced product candidate is a drug to prevent bleeding episodes in patients with moderate-severe to severe hemophilia. The company is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This is an IPO of 5.6 million shares at $17 to $19 each to trade on NASDAQ. Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Jefferies and Canaccord Genuity are the joint book-runners.

Silverback Therapeutics (SBTX proposed) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on using its ImmunoTAC technology platform to develop tumor-targeting drugs to treat breast, gastric and non-small cell lung cancers. The company, based in Seattle, Washington, is also developing an antibody to treat chronic hepatitis B infections.

This is an IPO of 7 million shares at $17 to $19 each to trade on the NASDAQ. Goldman Sachs, SVB Leerink and Stifel are the joint book-runners.

(For more information about these companies, please check the IPO profiles on IPOScoop.com.)

Week of Dec. 7

DoorDash is the headliner on next week’s IPO Calendar, which includes two other deals. That roster could expand, of course,  with the flow of SEC filings as the week unfolds.

Stay tuned.

(Never trade on proposed symbols. You might wind up owning something on the OTC Bulletin Board.)

Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.

Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums), is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.