Why Now Is Exactly the Time to Consider the IPO Process
Anyone who pays attention to Wall Street knows that 2016 has gotten off to a bruising start. The Dow is off nearly 7 percent since the beginning of the year, and more than 10 percent since peaking last May. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite Index have seen similar declines since their peaks.
That’s a tough environment in which to go public. And, indeed, not a single company did so in January, the first month in more than four years that lacked an IPO. Right now, investors just aren’t sure how to value new offerings while the broader market continues its correction.
So is now the time to be educating yourself on the process of going public? You bet it is. Here’s why:
First, market corrections don’t last forever. In fact, the average correction lasts only about two months. There’s no telling how long this one will last, or whether it might extend into a bear market. What we can say for sure is that the tide will turn eventually. And when it does, the IPO market is likely to heat back up.
Second, healthcare continues to be among the strongest industries for IPOs. Of the 170 companies that went public last year, 78 were healthcare firms, according to the research firm Renaissance Capital. And five biotech companies are expected to go public in coming days.
Third, today’s market conditions should have little bearing on the thought process of company executives currently at the early stages of considering an IPO. The process of going public can take a year or longer, during which market conditions will surely change.
A challenging market period, in fact, is a great time to begin the process of educating yourself on the IPO process. Firms seeking to enter a more skeptical public market will need to pay that much more attention to sharpening their stories, refining their financial guidance, and the many other details that accompany a successful IPO.
What are those details? You’ll find them in our new eBook, Westwicke Insider’s Guide to Going Public. In it, we offer tips and best practices on virtually every major element of the IPO process, from the year before to you go public to the year after. Among the questions the eBook will help you answer:
- What are the 10 things you must accomplish in the year before the IPO?
- How can you most successfully expedite your path to the public markets?
- What do you need to know about road shows that your investment banking partner likely won’t share with you?
- Are you sure you’re even ready to go public?
At Westwicke, we have more than 200 years combined experience on Wall Street, and we’ve deployed that expertise to assist some 50 healthcare companies complete highly successful IPOs. No firm in the world knows more about taking a healthcare company public than we do, and we’ve now assembled our very best advice about the process in a single eBook, available to you with our compliments.
Just click here to download it. Once you’ve had a chance to read it, feel free to reach out with questions or to have a deeper conversation.
ICR Westwicke is the largest healthcare focused investor relations firm in the country. We provide customized investor relations programs and independent capital markets advice to small and mid-cap healthcare companies.
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