In bull markets there are some great success stories from IPOs when a company goes public. This year there were some standouts with wire cutting star ROKU the best performer, up a mammoth 269%. Here are the best IPOs in 2017. $ROKU $URGN $CLXT $AKCA $APPN
In bull markets there are some great success stories from IPOs when a company goes public. This year there were some standouts with wire cutting star ROKU the best performer, up a mammoth 269%. Here are the best IPOs in 2017. $ROKU $URGN $CLXT $AKCA $APPN
We have included charts from KnovaWave @knovawave that give an indication of the extent of the moves through Murrey Math Lines and Ichimoku. Notice also many of these top IPOs are substantially off 2017 highs and still all over 100% their IPO price.
1. ROKU ($ROKU): Up 269% at $51.62 Close
Roku ( NASDAQ: $ROKU) The California streaming company shares raised $220 million with it’s IPO giving Roku $ROKU a market valuation of $1.3 billion priced at $14 each, the high end of an expected range of $12 to $14. On opening day Roku shares were trading at $22.55 up 61% by lunch. The momentum higher continued when $ROKU launched 50% higher after it’s first earnings report since it went public.
ROKU The IPO Star of 2017
ROKU announced a loss of 10 cents per share, much less than the 28 cents EPS forecast by analysts. Revenue rose 40% to $124.8 million beating forecasts of $110 million. The company has also been subject to rumors that Apple $AAPL and Amazon $AMZN have been circling to buy them.
2. UroGen Pharma ($URGN): Up 198% at $38.77 Close
Urogen Pharma (NASDAQ $URGN) The Israeli biotech UroGen Pharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments to address unmet needs in the field of urology. UroGen Pharma priced at $13 per share. However it sold 4.47 million shares rather than the originally anticipated $3.46, raising $58 million rather thant $45 million. The strong demand has continued since its opening day on May 4.
In September the FDA designated the company’s phase 3 drug candidate MitoGel for fast-track review. MitoGel is intended to treat patients with low-grade upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma.
3. Calyxt ($CLXT): Up 187% at $22.96 Close
Calyxt (NASDAQ: $CLXT) The food- and agriculture-focused compan span off from the French Cellectis Group. Calyxt combines gene-editing technology ‘pioneering a paradigm shift to deliver healthier food ingredients, such as healthier oils and high fiber wheat, for consumers and agriculturally advantageous crop traits, such as herbicide tolerance, for farmers.’ CLXT raised $56 million, pricing 7 million shares at $8 per share, substantially lower than the $100 million it hoped to raise, on debut it closed at $11.25 per share.
Since then the stock has continued higher, though is $10 off it’s high yet still up 187%. Calyxt has been building its supply chain in preparation for the commercial launch of its first product, high oleic soybeans in 2018
4. Akcea Therapeutics ($AKCA): Up 142% at $19.33 Close
Akcea Therapeutics (NASDAQ $AKCA) This biotech is another spinoff, from Ionis Pharmaceuticals ($IONS) going public on July 14. It specializes in treatment of diseases caused by lipid disorders. Akcea is advancing a mature pipeline of four novel drugs with the potential to treat multiple diseases. The company has been volatile from the start, its share offering went out at $8 per share from an expected range of $12 to $14. $AKCA sold more shares at the lower price to raise $124.8 million.
Akcea’s drugs, volanesorsen, AKCEA-APO(a)-LRx, AKCEA-ANGPTL3-LRx and AKCEA-APOCIII-LRx, are all based on antisense technology developed by Ionis Pharmaceuticals. Its most advanced drug, volanesorsen, has completed a Phase 3 clinical program for the treatment of familial chylomicronemia syndrome (FCS) and is currently in Phase 3 clinical development for the treatment of familial partial lipodystrophy (FPL).
5. Appian ($APPN): Up 132% at $27.93 Close
Appian (NASDAQ $APPN) is an enterprise software company that is finishing out the year near it’s high. Appian priced 6.25 million shares at $12, right in the middle of its expected $11-13 range. ppian helps make it easier for companies to build unique applications and automate their businesses with a “low-code” development software platform. Its 280 clients include 37 Fortune 500 companies, and a sizable chunk of federal agencies.
Appian’s followed a number of enterprise technology companies to go public in 2017, others included Cloudera ($CLDR), MuleSoft ($MULE), Yext ($YEXT), Okta ($OKTA) and Alteryx ($AYX) after a quiet 2016. Appian’s main rivals are Salesforce and ServiceNow, both established and therefore a risk but also seen as potential suitors.
- The close was taken as the trading day before Christmas December 22, 2017
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