Below is a chart and brief excerpt from today's Early Look written by Retail analyst Jeremy McLean. 

For the Chart of the Day let’s take a quick look at the 2021 IPOs in my retail/consumer coverage universe ignoring those that were valued sub ~$500mm.

Only Driven Brands DRVN ended the year above its day 1 trading peak.  Meanwhile the S&P made all-time highs all year long. 

There are some market dynamics around the Macro environment at play for sure, but how exactly did the market view change so significantly on companies that mostly met or exceeded the numbers laid out in their offering documents?  Could it be that bankers are placing overvalued shares with institutions that are just looking for the quick flip to overly excited public investors, and don’t want to be real owners? 

I’d say there is a better way, though the establishment that gets all the benefits of the status quo will work hard to keep the people from finding that better way.  You are starting to see more direct listings which is perhaps a sign that others also take issue with the old IPO process. 

CHART OF THE DAY: 2021 Retail IPO's Were Not Good  - retail ipos CoD