Michaels IPO Closes Barely Up On Opening Day
After what can only be described as an unimpressive performance on its first day of trading on the NASDAQ, Michaels Companies (MIK) stock ended the day at $17.02, two cents above the price the IPO started at this morning.
After a brief initial dip that took the stock as low as $16.655 in the first half hour it was trading, it began a slow steady climb that took it to a high of $17.25 shortly before 1pm. The rest of the afternoon was a slow slide back to pennies above the initial offering price, where it hovered for most of the last hour of trading before closing at $17.02 for the day. Volume has been light in the first hour of after hours trading, with the price bouncing between $17.01 and $17.05 before settling again at $17.02.
A comparison to Thursday's IPO by wearable camera manufacturer GoPro puts the Michaels IPO in perspective. GoPro (GPRO) launched on the NASDAQ yesterday morning at a price of $24/share. It closed its first day at $31.34, and by market close today, was trading for $35.76.
The Michaels IPO has not been met with optimism by most financial industry commentators. Jeff Macke, who is the host of Breakout for Yahoo Finance, seemed to sum up the sentiment of Wall Street when discussing the stock on Breakout's "Hot Stock Minute" segment today, saying "This is not a growth story." Macke acknowledged the company's position as an industry leader, but added that he felt the company would be better off remaining private.
