The market for new stocks has certainly been boring. Last week there were only two companies that pulled off their deals — and they both mustered gains of only 6%.
One of the new stocks was Wowo Ltd – ADR (NASDAQ:WOWO), which is known as the Chinese version of Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN). No doubt, this did not inspire much confidence on Wall Street. Keep in mind that GRPN is off about 71% since its own IPO.
Then there was the offering of Carbylan Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CBYL), which is a clinical-stage biotech operator that is focused on treating osteoarthritis knee pain. But to get the deal done, the company had to sell 20% of the shares to insiders.
However, this week should prove much more eventful for new stocks as there are seven deals on deck. Here’s a look:
New Stocks to Watch: Cidara Therapeutics Inc (CDTX)
Expected Offering Date: Wednesday
Cidara Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CDTX) is a biotech company that is focused on anti-infectives. The lead candidate, CD101, is for the treatment of serious fungal infections. It is applied intravenously on a weekly basis.
There is is a topical version of the drug as well, which is for the treatment of vulvovaginal candidiasis, or VVC (a common mucosal infection).
In terms of the market opportunity, Cidara Therapeutics estimates the size at about $3.7 billion. Keep in mind that more than 90% of the 97,000 annual deaths in hospitals are from fungal infections.
Cidara Therapeutics plans to issue 4 million shares at a price range of $14 to $16 and the lead underwriters include Jefferies Group LLC (NYSE:JEF) and Leerink Partners LLC.
New Stocks to Watch: XBiotech Inc (XBIT)
Expected Offering Date: Wednesday
XBiotech Inc (NASDAQ:XBIT) is a clinical-stage biotech company that is focused on creating monoclonal antibodies, which occur naturally in people. The company considers this safer and more effective because they are based on an person’s own biology.
The lead candidate is Xilonix, which is for interleukin-1 alpha (which is a form of inflammation that can lead to cancer, vascular disease, diabetes and inflammatory skin disease). The drug is currently in Phase I/II clinical trials.
Xbiotech expects to sell 4 million shares at a price range of $18 to $20 and the lead underwriter is WR Hambrecht + Co.
New Stocks to Watch: Aduro BioTech Inc (ADRO)
Expected Offering Date: Thursday
Aduro BioTech Inc (NASDAQ:ADRO) is a clinical-stage biotech operator that is focused on the development of treatments to stimulate immune responses for cancer. The lead candidate is CRS-2017, which is for metastatic pancreatic cancer and malignant pleural mesothelioma. The drug is in Phase 2b clinical trials.
The company has entered several collaborations, such as with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary Janssen Biotech Inc and Novartis AG (ADR) (NYSE:NVS)
Aduro Biotech plans to issue 5 million shares at a price range of $14 to $16 and the lead underwriters include Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) and Leerink Partners.
New Stocks to Watch: Party City Holdco Inc (PRTY)
Expected Offering Date: Thursday
Party City Holdco Inc is the world’s largest party supplies wholesaler and retailer. The company operates roughly 900 superstores, which include 210 franchises. There are also 300 temporary locations for its Halloween business.
From 2011 to 2014, revenues increased from $1.6 billion to $2.2 billion. And during this period, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization grew at a 14.4% compound annual rate to $362.1 million. But there appears to be much more room for growth. For example, the company believes that it can build out more than 350 more locations in the U.S. alone.
Party City expects to sell 21.9 million shares at a price range of $15 to $17 and the lead underwriters include Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), Bank of America Corp, Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM).
New Stocks to Watch: KemPharm Inc (KMPH)
Expected Offering Date: Thursday
KemPharm Inc. (NASDAQ:KMPH) is a clinical-stage specialty pharma company that is focused on developing improved versions of prescribed drugs.
The lead candidate is KP201/APAP, which is for the treatment of acute moderate to moderately severe pain. Essentially, the drug is developed to prevent overdoses (this is common for prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Targiniq ER, Embeda and Hysingla). The company has 28 granted patents and 87 pending patent applications worldwide.
KemPharm plans to issue 4 million shares at a price range of $12 to $14 and the lead underwriters include Cowen Group Inc (NASDAQ:COWN) subsidary Cowen & Company and RBC Capital Markets.
New Stocks to Watch: Etsy, Inc. (ETSY)
Expected Offering Date: Thursday
Etsy, Inc. operates a marketplace that allows people to sell their handmade crafts. The company has about 54 million members, which include 1.4 million active sellers and 19.8 million active buyers.
Last year, Etsy posted revenues of $195.6 million, up 56.4% on a year-over-year basis (the company charges listing and transaction fees). But there was a loss of $15.2 million.
According to the Wall Street Journal, it looks like Etsy will allocate about 15% of the offering to retail investors. This is fairly unusual for IPOs since the shares generally go to institutional investors.
Easy expects to issue 16.7 million shares at a price range of $14 to $16 and the lead underwriters include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Allen & Company.
New Stocks to Watch: Virtu Financial Inc (VIRT)
Expected Offering Date: Thursday
Virtu Financial Inc (NASDAQ:VIRT) is a top player in the high-frequency trading industry. The company’s system covers over 11,000 securities across more than 225 exchanges, markets and liquidity pools. Yet last year Virtu postponed its IPO because of the furor over the book “Flash Boys,” which was a negative look at high-frequency trading.
Last year, the company posted revenues of $723 million, up 8%, and net income came to about $190 million.
Virtu plans to issue 16.5 million shares at a price range of $17 to $19 and the lead underwriters include Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Sandler O’Neill + Partners, BMO Capital Markets, Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), Credit Suisse, Evercore Partners Inc. (NYSE:EVR) and UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS).
Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPO Playbook. He is also the author of High-Profit IPO Strategies, All About Commodities and All About Short Selling. Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
