At front and center is the U.S.-China trade war when it comes to the wall of worry for investors, but market expert Jim Cramer says that the number of initial public offerings (IPOs) flooding the capital markets is also posing a tangible risk.
With IPOs like Uber, Lyft, WeWork, and most recently, Peloton, not living up to their exorbitant valuations prior to their introductions on the stock market, it’s given Cramer and others something to think about.
“Just say no to IPO,” Cramer said on “Squawk on the Street.” “The market can’t handle another IPO. There’s just no money around.”
Other analysts are echoing Cramer’s sentiment like former Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld. To Greifeld, the IPO market is an eerie reminder of the late 1990s to early 2000s when the dot-com hype was in full bubble mode.
“In a sense, it reminded me back of the dot-com era, when you had companies going public that had no known path to profitability,” said Greifeld, chairman of high-speed computerized trading firm Virtu Financial.
Per a CNBC report, “WeWork felt the wrath of potential public investors — enduring weeks of negative news on concerns about slashed valuations, confusing corporate governance, and a more than $900 million loss for the first six months of 2019, before pulling its IPO last week.”
In its debut, startup company Peloton fell as much as 15% from its IPO price of $29. The exercise equipment company may be the latest in a string of IPO’s that have stumbled coming out of the gates.
“I really thought Peloton was going to do great. I don’t have a Peloton,” said Robert Herjavec of Herjavec Group. “I’m a huge Soul Cycle addict. So I have to say that, but they have a great recurring revenue model. I think the recurring revenue is around $200 [million]to $220 million a year. That’s a great business. What it tells me is, if you’re losing money, it’s probably not a great time to do an IPO. As great a company as Peloton is, they’re still going to lose … Lyft is losing money, Uber is losing money. The IPO market is really not very kind to companies that aren’t making money.”
This highlights the need for investors to get more broad exposure to IPOs via the Renaissance IPO ETF (NYSEArca: IPO). IPO seeks to replicate the price and yield performance of the Renaissance IPO Index, which is a portfolio of companies that have recently completed an initial public offering (“IPO”) and are listed on a U.S. exchange.
For investors seeking IPO opportunities around the globe, the Renaissance International IPO ETF (NYSEArca: IPOS) adds an international spin to the IPO market. IPOS tracks the rules-based Renaissance International IPO Index, which adds sizeable new companies on a fast-entry basis with the rest upon scheduled quarterly reviews. Current IPOS holdings include SoftBank Corp, Xiaomi and China Tower Corp.
For more market trends, visit ETF Trends.
