The U.S. IPO market is back

The big picture: Cava's successful IPO earlier this month appears to have been a confirming catalyst for issuers and bankers, even if its demand was partially driven by limited supply.

• The restaurant chain maintained its pop throughout its first week of trading, and is up again at today's open.

Coming attractions: This week's largest expected offering is from Kodiak Gas Services, a Texas natural gas compression services firm owned by EQT, which is seeking to raise $328 million at a $1.54 billion market cap (were it to price in the middle).

• Also on tap is Savers Value Village, an Ares Management-owned thrift store operator that's seeking to raise $300 million at a $2.8 billion market cap. Plus a Bermuda-based insurer and reinsurer called Fidelis, which hopes to raise $298 million at a $2.1 billion market cap.
• All three are set to list on the New York Stock Exchange.
• We also got a pair of new filings on Friday, again from companies operating in different markets. One was for cosmetics brand Oddity, while the other was for a biotech called Sagimet Biosciences that last year canceled an earlier IPO effort.

What's happening: For much of 2022, hedge fund and mutual fund managers shunned the possibility of new issues, preferring instead to buy discounted shares for companies that went public in 2020 or 2021.

• Now it seems a lot of that bargain bin shopping is done, in part due to resurgent public equity values, thus creating an appetite for novel names.

What we're watching: Some enterprise SaaS companies to take the plunge. There's a glut of them inside of VC fund portfolios, and a few early-movers could create a pattern-matched parade.

• Plus the expected offering from Instacart, and what Reddit plans to do about its own IPO plans in the midst of its moderator revolt.

The bottom line: We're still nowhere close to 2021 IPO levels, nor is that likely, but the window is open wide enough for everyone to feel a decent breeze.