Unicorns Waiting in Wings

Many fast-growing, but still-formulating, companies have yet to launch shares on global exchanges. Once these private companies achieve valuation levels of $1 billion, they are known in the industry as Unicorns. We estimate there are currently more than 250 Unicorns valued collectively at just short of $1 trillion. Survey Monkey, which went public last month, opened 56% above its indicated price and is worth approximately $2 billion. But they don't all mint day-trader millionaires. Snap Inc.'s SNAP shares are down almost 60% from the highs they reached on the opening day of that company's IPO. The current list of Unicorns generally is concentrated around the Tech/Consumer/Healthcare/E-Commerce...  industries, although nearly every industry is represented by some type of disruptor. The best-known Unicorns today include Uber, Airbnb, WeWork and SpaceX. Last quarter, four Unicorns went public. On average, they opened up 40% from their indicated opening prices. This type of investor demand may well entice other Unicorns to move toward the IPO market.    more

Argus President John Eade discusses the upcoming Sector Classification

Strong earnings boost market

Major indices are up at mid-day Friday with many stocks being up from the close following the release of quarterly earnings reports. Skechers (SKX) is up 14.1% from the close, while OFG Bancorp (OFG) is up 13.2% and Paypal (PYPL) is up 9.3% from the close. Bank OZK (OZK), formerly known as Bank of the Ozarks, is down 23.6% from the close. ...  more

Inflation Fear Hits the Stock Market

October has provided a wake-up call for complacent investors, with the S&P 500 down more than 1% just six trading days into the month. Early in October, the 10-year Treasury yield hit a seven-year high at 3.22%, up from 2.9% as recently as the end of August. Panicked investors sold risk-on sectors such as Technology, Consumer Discretionary, and the newly launched Communication Services sector that had led so far this year. ...more