There are nine IPOs on this week’s calendar – and we have to reach back over a year for more action. The last time an IPO calendar saw this much traffic was in June 2015, but don’t expect to see a landslide closing out September 2016. That is not going to happen.
Here is the explanation.
Reaching back to the week of June 22, 2015, that calendar showed 16 IPOs and 13 were priced, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The following week, June 29, 2015, had only five deals, but the Fourth of July holiday was just ahead, and nothing usually happens in that time slot.
This September, the IPO market came back to life on schedule right after Labor Day. The end of September marks the end of the third quarter of 2016. So bankers are picking up the pace. The word is out there that people are warming up for their final run in the fourth quarter of the year.
This week’s calendar features a few deals that make life interesting. Let’s take a look at them.
From Motor Oil to Lip Gloss
Two of the week’s most anticipated IPOs – Valvoline (VVV – proposed) and e.l.f. Beauty (ELF – proposed) – are scheduled to be priced just as the calendar flips over to fall. One name belongs to one of the best-selling brands of motor oil. The other name is familiar to women who love to buy lip gloss and other cosmetics at prices that won’t break the bank.
Valvoline, formed in 1866 and based in Lexington, Kentucky, is one of the most recognized and respected premium consumer brands in the global automotive lubricant industry. The company offers its motor oil and other automotive products in about 140 countries. In the United States and Canada, Valvoline’s products are sold to consumers through over 30,000 retail outlets, to installer customers with over 12,000 locations, and to approximately 1,050 Valvoline branded franchised and company-owned stores.
Bankers plan to offer 30 million shares of Valvoline at $20 to $23 each on Thursday, Sept. 22, the first day of fall, to trade Friday, Sept. 23, on the New York Stock Exchange.
e.l.f. Beauty, based in Oakland, California, takes its initials from three words: eyes, lips, face. It is one of the fastest-growing and most innovative cosmetic companies in the United States. In its prospectus, the company says: “Driven by our mission to make luxurious beauty accessible for all women to play beautifully, we have challenged the traditional belief that quality cosmetics are only available at high prices in select channels. e.l.f. offers high-quality, prestige-inspired beauty products for eyes, lips and face at extraordinary value, with the majority of its items retailing for $6 or less.”
Bankers plan to offer 8.3 million shares of e.l.f. Beauty at $14 to $16 each on Wednesday, Sept. 21, to trade Thursday, Sept. 22, on the NYSE. Note: The issuer is offering about 4.3 million shares and selling shareholders are offering 4 million shares.
Tech on the Menu
Looking over this week’s offerings, there are a couple of tech companies that have attracted a fair amount of attention – Apptio (APTI – proposed) and The Trade Desk (TTD – proposed).
Apptio, based in Bellevue, Washington, is a leading provider of Technology Business Management, or TBM, solutions. The company says it pioneered the TBM software category “to provide the strategic business management system for the CIO because IT needed a data-driven system comparable to those leveraged by other enterprise functions such as sales, human resources and finance.” Apptio’s cloud-based platform and SaaS applications enable IT leaders to analyze, optimize and plan technology investments, and to benchmark their financial and operational performance against peers.
Bankers plan to offer 6 million shares of Apptio at $13 to $15 each on Thursday, Sept. 22, to trade Friday, Sept. 23, on NASDAQ. The Trade Desk, based in Ventura, California, offers a technology platform for ad buyers. With its self-serve platform, ad buyers are able to share their customized messages and ideas with the people and in the context they deliberately choose.
Bankers plan to offer 4.7 million shares of The Trade Desk at $14 to $16 each on Tuesday, Sept. 20, to trade Wednesday, Sept. 21, on NASDAQ. Looking into the week of Sept. 26, the calendar has no IPOs. But anything could happen on Monday morning, which could set the stage for the following week.
Stay tuned.
Disclosure: Neither the author nor anyone else on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned, nor do we trade or invest in IPOs. The author and IPOScoop.com staff do not issue advice, recommendations or opinion.