Stephen Gandel, Columnist

Stitch Fix Doesn't Need to Mend the IPO Market

Despite high-profile flops, initial public offerings are showing some strength.

November 17, 2017 at 3:19 PM UTC

Stephen Gandel is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering banking and equity markets. He was previously a deputy digital editor for Fortune and an economics blogger at Time. He has also covered finance and the housing market.

1510933856_GettyImages-71999640 — Photographer: Bruno Vincent/Getty Images

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Given the number of prominent IPO flops this year, investors can be forgiven for thinking that the market has been a bust again. But they would still be wrong because the IPO market is actually having its first good year in a while.

First, the bad news: Another dud deal is due on Friday. The initial public offering of clothes subscription service Stitch Fix Inc. priced on Thursday night at $15, well below the expected $18-to-$20 range. The company is also selling fewer shares than expected. The stock may still rise when it begins trading on Friday, but the lower price and fewer shares are both signs that Stitch Fix could join the ranks of Blue Apron Holdings Inc. and Funko Inc., two other IPOs that were supposed to be hot but instead got the icy cold shoulder from investors. (That doesn't include another conspicuous disappointment, Snap Inc. While its IPO went off fine and its shares held up for a while, they have since dropped.)