Firefly Aerospace (FLY.O) shares slipped 11% in Friday morning trading, a move seen as a routine market fluctuation. Still, the space tech firm’s strong Nasdaq debut underscored renewed investor interest in high-growth IPOs.
After nearly three years of sluggish new listings, momentum is returning in high-risk sectors like space, crypto, and fintech driven by high-profile launches from companies such as Firefly and Circle (CRCL.N) a trend expected to encourage startups that delayed going public during volatile markets to proceed with IPO plans.
Firefly’s shares opened for trading on the Nasdaq at $70 apiece, compared with the initial public offering price of $45. It closed the debut session roughly 34% higher.
“Large pops and drops show an elevated level of short-term money trading around IPOs, be it hedge funds or retail. This has been a feature of the market in recent months,” said Samuel Kerr, head of equity capital markets at Mergermarket.
Post-IPO stocks often see sharp swings in the days after listing, driven by factors such as limited share float, profit-taking by early investors and shifts in broader market sentiment.
“The fact the stock is still well above the IPO price, despite a drop in premarket trading today and that should hopefully point to a solid cohort of institutional investors serving as a bed-rock for the stock in its early days of trading,” Kerr said. Firefly had priced its IPO above the marketed range and raised $868.3 million in the year’s biggest U.S. space listing, marking a striking comeback for a company that filed for bankruptcy in 2017.
Private space firms have drawn fresh investor interest as they play a growing role in U.S. military and civil programs, aided by NASA’s push to contract out lunar missions and the Pentagon’s demand for responsive launch capabilities. The sector has also benefited from government spending and commercial satellite demand. Still, it faces potential challenges from high development costs and long production timelines.