Jonathan Weil, Columnist

Even a Money-Losing Pizza Chain Can Do an IPO

Would you buy stock in a pizza chain that can't make money after 33 years?

May 2, 2014 at 8:43 PM UTC

By Jonathan Weil

Have a hankering for some stock? Don't try Papa Murphy's. Source: Courtesy of Papa Murphy's Pizza — Have a hankering for some stock? Don't try Papa Murphy's. Source: Courtesy of Papa Murphy's Pizza

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Just when it seemed like investors might have lost some of their appetite for initial public offerings of companies that lose money . . . yeah, right.

Papa Murphy's Holdings Inc. priced its IPO today at $11 a share. The stock closed up a nickel. I've grown accustomed to seeing IPOs by profitless technology companies. But this is a pizza chain that had net losses of $606,000 in 2011, $2.1 million in 2012 and $2.6 million in 2013.