First IPOs Since Peloton, WeWork Chaos Underwhelm in Debuts

(Bloomberg) -- A quartet of new stocks traded sluggishly in their debuts on Thursday, after bringing the first IPOs since Peloton Interactive Inc. and The We Co. showed waning confidence in startups.

Two of Thursday’s debuts -- Frequency Therapeutics Inc. and MetroCity Bankshares Inc. -- are trading below their IPO prices set overnight. The other two new faces -- Aprea Therapeutics Inc. and Viela Bio Inc. -- rose less than the 15% that’s typically priced into the value of initial public offerings. All that while the Nasdaq Biotech Index is having its best session in three weeks, up 1.3% intraday.

The latest weakness comes several days after WeWork’s parent filed to withdraw its IPO filing, and with Peloton trading 22% below its Sept. 25 IPO price. Before WeWork changed plans and Peloton made one of the decade’s weakest starts by a mega-IPO, 11 consecutive new listings had debuted above their offering price. Political news also weighed on biotech shares as these deals developed.

To contact the reporter on this story: Drew Singer in New York at dsinger28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brad Olesen at bolesen3@bloomberg.net, Steven Fromm, Will Daley

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.