Traditionally speaking, the only thing on the IPO Calendar is the Thanksgiving turkey. This week is much the same. The current calendar shows two small-cap deals of about $25 million each, one on a day-to-day basis and the other scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday pricing. There’s also a handful of small-cap IPOs that are carryovers from the past few weeks.
But nobody really expects anything to happen.
The U.S. stock markets will be closed Thursday, Nov. 22nd, for Thanksgiving Day. This means a four-day work week for Wall Street. In reality, many will skip the office on Wednesday to get a head start on a long holiday weekend – whether they’re making the drive to Grandma’s house or flying off to warmer climes.
Peering into the Pipeline
Nevertheless, there was some interesting news that came out after the close on Friday, Nov. 16th.
The U.S. Securities and Commission’s filing window revealed five companies had filed to go public. In addition to a Wednesday filing, four more filed during the previous week. That puts a total of 10 IPOs in the pipeline for future calendars and this makes for some fascinating reading.
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act, dramatically changed how companies go public in the U.S. capital markets. Before the JOBS Act, a company would file for an IPO and disclose all necessary information about their business. Next came a wait of several weeks before the company and its bankers set offering terms and an IPO pricing date.
Fast forward to life under the JOBS Act: A company files confidential papers to go public and once the necessary work is completed, it makes an official filing called an S-1 for U.S.-based companies and an F-1 for foreign-based companies. In short, the new process enables a company to file one day and go public within a matter of days.
To recap, this is what happened over the last two weeks. Ten companies filed plans to go public with the aim of raising over $1.6 billion.
Yes, Mr. or Ms. Thanksgiving Turkey, there will be a December IPO calendar.
For the month of December from 2013 through 2017, 44 IPOs were priced, according to the SEC. The December monthly average is nine IPOs. This year, 10 companies have filed IPO plans in just the past two weeks.
The Week after Thanksgiving
The IPO Calendar is blank for November’s fourth week, but anything can happen when the SEC’s filing window opens again for business on Monday morning.
Stay tuned.
Disclosure: Neither the author nor anyone else on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned, nor do we trade or invest in IPOs. The author and IPOScoop.com staff do not issue advice, recommendations or opinion.