A company that makes $400 golf putters has scored a hole in one with this year’s most successful initial public offering to date.
Shares in Sacks Parente Golf soared more than 600% on their Tuesday debut, before paring gains after-hours.
The California-based company, which claims to make the only putters that “naturally improve your stroke,” sold 3.2 million shares at $4 apiece. They ended the day at $28.97, before falling 29% to $20.52 in after-hours trading.
The 624% bounce cemented Sacks Parente as the best-performing market debut of 2023 and gave some hope for the subdued IPO market.
There’s been a dearth of flotations partly due to higher borrowing costs from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate rises in recent months.
The tech sector has been particularly hard hit. Just 10 companies raised $100 million or more on the Nasdaq in the first half of the year, according to FactSet data reported by CNBC. During the same period of 2021, there were more than 500 floats worth at least $100 million.
However, stock markets continue to rally even without new blood. Fears of a recession have waned, and the Fed’s rate rises appear to be working with consumer price inflation easing to about 3%.
The S&P 500 is up 16% year-to-date and the Nasdaq has jumped 31% partly due to the AI boom, although the Dow Jones is just 5.5% higher.
