The Wall Street Journal | After Bullish, Figma and Firefly, here’s a hot IPO tip for you

Sometimes a company’s name says it all: Shares of Bullish jumped 84% after their Wednesday debut on the New York Stock Exchange, even after underwriters raised the offering range for the cryptocurrency marketplace. It’s the latest in a string of hot IPOs this year. Shares of space company Firefly took off last week, rising by a third. Software firm Figma jumped 250% after last month’s offering. One notable dud was artificial intelligence startup CoreWeave’s offering in March, which succumbed to market jitters and ended its first day—gasp—flat. Its stock eventually appreciated by 360% before a recent stumble.

What those issuers have in common is belonging to currently red-hot industries—tech, crypto or space. When “story stocks” double or triple after a supposedly rigorous underwriting, then it’s a concerning sign for the market as a whole.

Years with lots of offerings, and especially many that leap, have coincided with irrational exuberance among the public. 

Data from Jay Ritter informs this story from The Wall Street Journal.