It looks like Main Street is poised to get in on an investment that’s been largely off-limits: initial public offerings…
At least two trading platforms plan to let individual investors get early access to IPO shares, which typically are reserved for wealthier brokerage clients and institutional investors (i.e., mutual funds, hedge funds, endowments, etc.).
IPOs essentially involve private companies becoming publicly traded ones. That is, company shares are sold to the public. So far this year, there have been 95 new listings, according to Renaissance Capital. Last year saw 218 IPOs, marking the busiest year for new listings since 2014 when there were 274.
Before any new stock reaches the market, investment banks — which generally underwrite IPOs — sell shares that end up in the hands of select investors. Everyone else must wait until shares start trading through a market like the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq.
At that point, small investors might be paying more than those who got in early. The average first-day return for IPOs last year was 41.6%, according to data from IPO expert Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida.
Personal finance company SoFi last week announced that it will let its customers in on IPOs in the near future via its plans to be an underwriter for such deals. Robinhood, the popular trading application that is planning its own IPO, also reportedly is doing the same.
SoFi said that while it won’t take a commission when its customers purchase those early IPO shares, they would be charged $50 if they sell their allocation within 120 days.
“We want to educate them on IPOs, we want to make sure they have access to IPOs and then ensure they are investing over the long term in a diversified way,” SoFi CEO Anthony Noto told CNBC’s “Squawk Alley” last week.
SoFi’s program will offer traditional IPOs, direct listings (which bypass the underwriting process) and special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, a company spokesperson said. SPACs essentially involve giving your money to a shell entity without knowing up-front what company it will end up investing in.
It’s uncertain how many IPOs will be available through SoFi, or how many shares it would get if it is able to get in on underwriting deals.
Nevertheless, if you’re interested in participating in an IPO and end up gaining access to the market, there are some things to know.
For starters, even if you are able to request shares early, it doesn’t mean you’ll receive the amount you requested. Generally, the more demand there is for any given IPO, the harder it is to snag shares of your own.
Conversely, if there is lukewarm interest, you’re more likely…
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