Public Markets Mint IPO Gold With ‘Massive’ Valuation Premiums
- First-day return on IPO debut is best since dot-com boom years
- Rally reflects faith in mature companies, retail participation
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For years now, people have been lamenting the decline of capital-raising prowess in the U.S. stock market. Those critiques appear to have been premature.
Long moribund, U.S. exchanges are again showing themselves to be settings for instantaneous wealth creation, including this week when DoorDash Inc. and Airbnb Inc. soared in their first public trades. Not since the height of the dot-com bubble two decades ago has a public listing done more to enrich owners than in the last 11 months, when the average first-day return for IPOs has exceeded 35%.