IPOs are having their biggest week in years

• The octet's largest issuer and the one most tied to AI — Forgent Power Solutions — is expected to price on Wednesday night.
• Hair-loss biotech Verademics was first out of the gate, raising $256 million after pricing above its offering range.

The big picture: It's a diverse bunch of companies, ranging from energy to retail to biotech to digital marketing. There's even a celebrity-driven brand, with Jennifer Garner's Once Upon a Farm.

• Some of the high volume is backlog from last winter's government shutdown, during which certain companies pushed Q4 2025 listings into Q1 2026.

What to watch: Aftermarket performance beyond first-day pops.

• The IPO window is wide open, but it can slam shut quickly.
• Five of the seven U.S. IPOs to raise at least $100 million last month are trading below their IPO price, several by double-digits. There also were some aftermarket dogs in December, like Lumexa and Wealthfront.

• Renaissance Capital's IPO index not only underperforms the S&P 500 over the past year, it's actually negative. Same goes for the one-, three-, and six-month periods.
• If traders come to believe that they're likely to get a Day 2 discount, they'll stop buying on Day 1.

The bottom line: The next couple months could determine IPO activity in the back half of 2026.