IPO bankers are getting back into the post-election swing of things this week with a biotech-driven calendar. U.S. stocks soared to record highs today – with the Dow up almost 5 percent – on news from Pfizer about progress on a COVID-19 vaccine and two days after Democrat Joe Biden became the president-elect of the United States.
“The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 4.6% to its first intraday record since February, before the pandemic shutdown began. The index traded just below the 30,000 benchmark. The S&P 500 surged 3.4%, also in record territory,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
IN8Bio, Inc. (INAB proposed), a clinical-stage biotech focused on developing innovative therapies for cancer, leads this week’s slim IPO Calendar. Just four IPOs are set for pricing so far this week – and three are biotechs.
Compass Therapeutics (CMPX proposed) , a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on cancer drugs, landed on this week’s IPO Calendar early today after setting terms in an SEC filing.
Pfizer (PFE) and its partner, BioNTech SE (BNTX) , announced Monday that their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 among those without evidence of prior infection, hailing the development as “a great day for science and humanity,” CNBC reported.
The U.S. stock market jumped on the first trading day after Biden was declared the winner of the U.S. presidential election on Saturday, with 290 electoral college votes to President Donald Trump’s 214. Trump has not conceded the election.
Sen. Kamala Harris, Biden’s running mate, made history as the first woman – as well as the first woman of black and Asian descent – to become the vice president-elect in U.S. history.
Stocks surged last week, extending an Election Day rally to give the major U.S. stock indexes their best week since April as investors angled to position themselves for the outcome of the 2020 elections, according to The Wall Street Journal.
A strong U.S. stock market provides robust support for IPOs.
Wall Street took a break last week as Americans waited for the U.S. election results. Only one IPO – a SPAC – was priced: Roman DBDR Tech Acquisitions Corp. (DBDRU) raised $220 million with the sale of 22 million units at $10 each.
At the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s filing window, the traffic was steady. Eight companies filed to go public. Two were traditional IPO filings: Upstart Holdings, Inc., a FinTech that operates an online lending platform, and Ozon Holdings plc, an online retail platform that some describe as “Russia’s Amazon.” The other six new filings were by SPACs or special-purpose acquisition companies, also known as blank-check companies.
The Week Ahead
Let’s take a look at this week’s IPO Calendar, organized by pricing and trading dates.
Tuesday night pricing for Wednesday trading:
Inhibikase Therapeutics, Inc. (IKT proposed) is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs to treat Parkinson’s Disease.
This is a small-cap IPO of just 1.4 million shares at $10 to $12 each to trade on the NASDAQ. The IPO’s size was cut by 40 percent in an SEC filing dated Nov. 2. ThinkEquity is the sole book-runner.
Wednesday night pricing for Thursday trading:
IN8bio, Inc. (INAB proposed) says it is the first company to advance genetically modified gamma-delta T cells for use in combination with chemotherapy to treat cancer patients, according to the prospectus. Its two leading drug candidates are: 1. INB-200 to treat newly diagnosed glioblastoma, which is one of the most aggressive types of brain cancer, and 2. INB-100 to treat patients with leukemia undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).
This is an IPO of 4.7 million shares at $15 to $17 each to trade on the NASDAQ. Barclays, Cantor and Mizuho Securities are the joint book-runners.
Thursday night pricing for Friday trading:
Compass Therapeutics (CMPX proposed) is developing proprietary antibody therapeutics intended to engage the immune system to treat solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Its lead product candidate is CTX-471, a monoclonal antibody agonist of CD137, a key co-stimulatory receptor on immune cells, according to the prospectus.
This is an IPO of 9 million shares at $5 to $6 each to trade on the NASDAQ. Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Stifel are the joint book-runners.
HF Enterprises (HFEN proposed) is a diversified holding company focused on real estate, digital transformation technology and biohealth, the prospectus says. The company is developing land near Houston, Texas, and in Frederick, Maryland, for residential real estate projects.
This is a small-cap IPO of 2.6 million shares at $6 to $7 each to trade on the NASDAQ. WestPark Capital is the sole book-runner.
Week of Nov. 16
Just one deal – a REIT focused on affordable housing – is on the IPO Calendar for the third week of November, which begins on Nov. 16. But that could change quickly as more companies amend their SEC filings this week.
Stay tuned.
(For more information about these companies, please check the IPO profiles on IPOScoop.com.)
(Note: 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.