The IPO Buzz: When Bankers Skip Town

IPOs took a holiday last week. No deals were priced. Three companies filed to go public and that was it. But don’t take this as a negative. Consider what happened during the July 4th holiday week. The U.S. stock market closed early Monday at 1 p.m. It was closed Tuesday for Independence Day. The market reopened Wednesday and rode out the week. The major U.S. stock indexes finished Friday with just fractional gains. One reason: Nobody was in town.

For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.30 percent, the S&P 500 Index eked out a gain of just 0.07 percent, and the NASDAQ Composite Index added 0.21 percent. This sets the stage for the IPO tap dance of July 2017 to begin.

Rx and Dx

This week’s IPO calendar shows just two deals: One is a carryover from past weeks, Akcea Therapeutics (AKCA – proposed)  and the other is a newcomer, Co-Diagnostics (CODX – proposed). Collectively, they are looking to raise $133.6 million.

Akcea Therapeutics, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company commercializing treatments for patients with serious cardiometabolic diseases caused by lipid disorders.

Note: Akcea’s IPO was initially scheduled to have been priced Thursday evening, June 29. Then it was changed to “day to day” and now it is on tap “for the week.”

Co-Diagnostics, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a molecular diagnostics company that has developed and intends to sell molecular diagnostic technology such as portable lab systems as well as manufacture and sell reagents used in tests designed to detect and/or analyze DNA or RNA. Co-Diagnostics developed an            inexpensive test for the Zika virus that was offered last year to labs in the South American country of Guyana, the Deseret News reported.

(For more information, please check the IPO profiles found on IPOScoop.com’s website.)

An After-the-4th Tradition

Looking back over the last few years, the week following July 4th produced slim pickings for the IPO calendar, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s filings. Consider:

  • 2016: 2 unit offerings were priced.
  • 2015: No IPOs were priced.
  • 2014: No IPOs were priced.

That takes us to mid-July and the week of July 17, 2017, which is a blank slate. Nevertheless, a lot could happen when the SEC’s filing window opens again 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.