Candygram 02.27.2024

The S&P 500 hit an all-time high just last Wednesday before correcting a few percentage points over the previous week. But the current calendar is nearly empty. Do the investment banks know something we don't?

We're keeping busy with things like Retro Candy and just added 40 decks to our database.

The worry facing the markets now seems to be economic growth, consumer confidence, and the persistence of inflation and higher long-term rates. Filings have been few but many say that many are drafted and "waiting in the wings."

Volume & Performance

International deals were over 1/2 the volume in the regular-way IPO market so far. Most are based in China but we also had a few from Japan, Singapore, and Israel. And most of those were sub-$10M in size, putting them on our "underground" list.

Looking at the more significant US deals, the top performers were related to GLP-1 alternatives (Metsera $MTSR), aerospace (Karman $KRMN), diabetes (Beta Bionics $BBNX) and domestic energy services (Flowco $FLOC).

Most of the international deals are borderline in terms of even being counted as real issues. The top performer appears to be a quasi-scam now trading at $57 after pricing their IPO at $4.10. They provide "ESG data services" in Hong Kong. So go figure.

If any of these companies have strong fundamentals, we might look at them, but it's more rewarding to look at bargains from companies that came public in 2021 and 2022, stumbled and are now attractive.

We'll publish our entire "book" of more detailed YTD data at the end of March.