An arguably worrisome note on IPOs

That whole government shutdown was awkward for companies trying go public in the first quarter of 2019, but biotech eventually made the best of it, with 10 IPOs that raised more than $1 billion.

However, there is one data point that might cause concern moving forward. As Evaluate Pharma notes in its IPO rundown, not one of those 10 companies managed to price its shares at a premium to the proposed range, and four of them took discounts on day one. On average, the group priced about 5% below its proposed range.

That could be a sign that biotech companies — and their bankers — are overestimating just how much the market wants to buy into risky science. Or it could be the result of a small sample size. Perhaps those 10 companies simply didn’t deserve a post-IPO markup. In any case, it’ll be a figure to watch as scores of startups queue up to go public in 2019.