The IPO Buzz: AFRM, POSH & PLTK in a $5 Billion Week

Affirm Holdings, Poshmark, Inc. and Playtika Holdings are among the names to note on this week’s IPO Calendar. Bankers expect to raise about $5.2 billion from 12 deals. Eight IPOs and four SPAC offerings are on tap so far.

Millennials and Gen Z consumers, who were born in the years 1981-2012, are the target audience for Affirm (AFRM proposed), a “Buy Now, Pay Later” smartphone app and online platform. Early Monday morning, Affirm increased its price range by 20 percent to raise $1 billion in its IPO, which is regarded as one of the week’s top three deals, veteran IPO professionals say.

Poshmark (POSH proposed) is on many IPO investors’ “most wanted” lists this week. The social platform says it makes it easy for people to sell their gently used designer and top-brand clothes, shoes, accessories, home décor and beauty products.

Playtika Holdings (PLTK proposed), an Israeli developer of some of the most popular free mobile casino and poker games, is also at the top of many IPO professionals’ shopping list this week, along with Affirm and Poshmark.

Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. (WOOF proposed) is also attracting a lot of attention this week. It’s a big brand that’s benefiting from the “pandemic puppy” trend. Pet adoptions surged in the past year as more people sought the comfort of pet companionship during the COVID-19 lockdowns, many IPO experts point out. But others say the company’s private equity ownership and $3.3 billion in debt are reasons to be wary.

Motorsport Games (MSGM proposed) upped the ante early Monday morning with a 46 percent increase in its IPO’s size – to 3 million shares at $19 to $20, up from 2.35 million shares at $16 to $18 – for pricing tonight.  The upsizing of this IPO today confirmed the enthusiasm for Motorsport Games expressed by some IPO investors last week when the deal was launched.

There’s something for everyone this week, in terms of sectors and deal sizes, in an IPO Calendar that reflects investors’ healthy appetite for IPOs and the U.S. stock market’s strength. The Wall Street Journal noted: “The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.6 percent for the first week of 2021, marking its fourth-straight weekly gain despite a mob stormimg the U.S. Capitol Wednesday and a decline in nonfarm payrolls reported Friday.”

An Explosive Start to the Year

Looking back on the first week of 2021, this was the IPO market’s fastest start in years. The first deals were priced on Monday night, Jan. 4^th, a dramatic early start, compared with the historic trend of IPO pricings beginning around Jan. 10-Jan. 17 in recent years. Two biotech IPOs – Cullinan Management (CGEM) and Gracell Biotechnologies (GRCL) – attracted strong demand and scored significant opening-day gains. More than two dozen SPACs (special-purpose acquisition companies, or blank-check companies) were priced last week, raising nearly $7 billion – a record in the number of deals and the dollar volume raised, according to SPAC experts at Renaissance Capital and SPAC Insider. On Thursday night, Jan. 7^th, an astonishing 14 SPACs were priced, IPOScoop data showed, and all performed well the next day.

Week of Jan. 18^th

Two deals are scheduled for pricing in the third week of January. Roblox (RBLX proposed) has generated  headlines with its plans for a direct listing during the week of Jan. 18^th. Early today, Dream Finders Homes, Inc., a home builder based in Florida, filed terms for its IPO and landed on the IPO Calendar for pricing next week. More names are likely to pop onto the calendar for this week and next as companies and their bankers continue to flock to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s filing window.

Stay tuned.

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

(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.