Forget about LinkedIn. It's been a rough year for a bunch of Canadian companies who recently opted to go public, which is something to keep in mind now that firms like Hudson's Bay Co. are looking to do the same.
When the deals were marketed, the markets were rising and commodities were the hot topic. But after a few months of trading, the hype around a good chunk of these names has dissipated and their stocks have suffered.
Condor Petroleum , which is developing oil and gas assets in Kazakhstan, is down 19 per cent since it started trading in early April. Royal Nickel , which started trading late in 2010, is down 24 per cent.
Outside the resource space, hockey equipment maker Bauer Performance Sports Ltd. is down 16 per cent since it went public in March, and GT Canada Medical Properties Inc. is down 33 per cent.
To compare, year-to-date the S&P/TSX composite index is practically flat, down about 1 per cent. However, there have been some wild swings in that time, and some names started trading during the peaks.
However, the weak performances don't apply to every deal, particularly for those that started trading just before the new year. For instance, Pretium Resources Inc. is up a whopping 55 per cent since it started trading late December. And Potash explorer Karnalyte Resources Inc. is up 40 per cent since it started trading around the same time.