5 IPOs We Want In 2016

2015 was a relatively calm year for initial public offerings on Wall Street, especially in comparison to 2014, which saw the biggest IPO ever with Alibaba Group Holdings BABA. Only 169 companies made their market debut, including Fitbit Inc FIT, Ferrari NV RACE, Shake Shack (SHAK - Snapshot Report), GoDaddy Inc GDDY, and Spark Therapeutics ONCE.

Some of the biggest IPO rumors—Uber, Airbnb, Pinterest, and Snapchat—remained privately-held and were able to raise boatloads of money without listing on a stock exchange. But that hasn’t stopped these four companies from still leading the IPO pack in 2016. For more information on each of these buzzed about companies, click here for our free report on their IPO potential in 2016.

In addition to the tech industry, other business sectors have fueled IPO rumors just as much. Let’s take a look at five other companies who show great IPO promise for 2016.

1. Palantir

Founded in 2004, Palo Alto, California-based Palantir Technologies Inc is a data analysis company that has made a name for itself over the years. For instance, its pattern detection technology has been credited with exposing the infamous Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme as well as aiding the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in capturing Al Qaeda terrorist Osama Bin Laden.

As of October 2015, Palantir is valued at $20 billion, with total equity funding reaching $1.2 billion. Despite some critics debating over whether its business—sorting through tons of secret data—may be better suited for an acquisition, an IPO for Palantir could help the company grow considerably.

2. SoulCycle

 After filing to go public last July, SoulCycle, a boutique spin class studio company that has turned into a nationwide phenomenon, is expecting to raise $100 million from its IPO. The company has 38 studios across the country and an estimated 300,000 loyal customers. SoulCycle was founded in 2006 and was eventually acquired by luxe fitness brand Equinox Fitness in 2011.

At $30 a class—the company does not offer memberships—SoulCycle is a unique exercise experience. Riders can typically burn between 500-700 calories during the 45-minute classes and ride on a specially designed bike that has a split seat to relieve pressure and discomfort commonly found in conventional bikes. SoulCycle even collaborates with big athletic brands like Lululemon (LULU - Analyst Report) and Nike (NKE -Analyst Report) on their clothing products.

3. Dropbox

Holding a valuation of $10 billion, cloud storage company Dropbox was founded in 2007 and is currently headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company hired a new chief financial officer last year, which signaled to some that it was planning an IPO. It stayed private all of 2015, however, after seeing its competitor Box Inc (BOX - Snapshot Report) falter after their own Wall Street debut.

Dropbox has reportedly 400 million customers and around 8 million companies using its services. In light of increased competition in the cloud computing space from tech giants Apple (AAPL - Analyst Report), Microsoft (MSFT - Analyst Report), Amazon.com (AMZN - Analyst Report), and Alphabet GOOGL, the company has developed new tools and services. Dropbox has expanded into the corporate market, where they sell add-on features like enhanced security and collaboration tools.

4. Honest Co.

Started in 2011, Honest Co. is a non-toxic consumer goods company co-founded by actress Jessica Alba. They sell products like diapers, wipes, creams, cleaning products, vitamins, and toothpaste, among others, and is competing against some of the world’s biggest companies in the sector: Procter & Gamble (PG - Analyst Report) and Kimberly-Clark (KMB - Analyst Report).

Honest Co.’s products are reminiscent of brands like Earth’s Best and Seventh Generation; they are sold alongside them at stores like Whole Foods Market WFM and Target (TGT - Analyst Report), as well as on its website. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Honest Co. is working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on an initial public offering.  A funding round last year valued Honest Co. at roughly $1.7 billion.

5. Univision

Univision is an American Spanish language broadcast television network, and is the biggest media company serving the Hispanic market. It operates a variety of 24-hour cable networks and 60 local stations as well as digital and radio offerings.

The company filed with the SEC to go public last July, but put its IPO plans on hold due to the lackluster performance of media stocks like Time Warner (TWX - Analyst Report) and Viacom (VIA - Snapshot Report), as well as a sluggish market for first-time share sales overall. They planned to raise $100 million.

Univision’s owners, including billionaire Haim Saban, Madison Dearborn Partners, Providence Equity Partners, TPG Capital, and Thomas H. Lee Partners, took the media company private back in 2007 for $13.7 billion, unfortunately saddling the company with debt just before the financial crisis began. But despite pressures from all around, Univision has been able to gradually grow its revenue and keep up strong subscription growth.

 

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