Smart ring manufacturer Oura has postponed its initial public offering on Nasdaq, which could have valued the company at nearly $15 billion. According to representatives, despite the high interest, the decision was made due to unfavorable market conditions.
The IPO was postponed due to uncertainty. The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds – one of the key global indicators of borrowing costs – exceeded 5.2% last week and nearly reached 5.3%, the highest since 2007. The situation was also affected by rising oil prices and the first interest rate hike by the Fed since 2023. The higher the bond yields, the less investors are willing to pay for future profits, and growth companies suffer the most from this. “The spike in yields and the resumption of rate hikes have put pressure on growth companies, which make up the majority of the IPO market,” – noted Avery Marques, Director of Investment Strategies at Renaissance Capital.
Applications for Oura's IPO exceeded the number of shares by almost four times. The main issue – the company's valuation. Jay Ritter, Director of the IPO Initiative at the University of Florida, reminded that GoPro and Peloton – are examples of single-product companies whose shares declined after growth slowed. For the nine months ending June 30, Oura earned $1.2 billion compared to $697 million a year earlier, but according to Ritter, the current valuation implies maintaining high growth rates. Other market participants are also cautious. SpaceX went public in June with a capitalization of $1.77 trillion, but shares fell despite the successful launch of Starship. Holtec International and Bamboo Insurance also postponed their market debuts. According to Reuters, Anthropic's debut is likely to occur after the November midterm elections; the filing reflects a net loss of $42 billion for 2025, most of which is related to accounting write-offs.
Related articles
