Arm, Reddit, Instacart – has investing in IPOs been worth the hype?

hl.co.uk:

We don’t support this browser anymore.
This means our website may not look and work as you would expect. Read more about browsers and how to update them here.

Newsroom

Newsroom articles are published by leading news agencies. Hargreaves Lansdown is not responsible for an article's content and its accuracy. We may not share the views of the author.

HL Podcast

HL Insight

With big ticket IPOs like Klarna on the news agenda, we look at what they are and whether they’ve been worth it.

This article isn’t personal advice. If you’re not sure whether an investment is right for you please seek advice. If you choose to invest the value of your investment will rise and fall, so you could get back less than you put in.

Published on 8 November 2023

It was correct at the time of publishing. Our views and any references to tax, investment and pension rules may have changed since then.

This weekend, rumours began swirling about a possible Klarna IPO. With this on the front of the news amongst other companies recently listing, what exactly is an IPO?

An Initial Public Offering (IPO) is when a company sells its shares on the stock market for the first time.

You’ll usually see a load of once-in-a-lifetime marketing fanfare. But for investors, deciding whether to invest in an IPO or not should carry the same diligence as deciding to buy any other investment, if not more.

Ultimately, you’re trying to determine whether the stock is reasonably valued. Unlike shares that have been trading for years, IPO stocks don’t have as much widely-published information. This makes it harder to make a well-informed decision on whether an IPO is right for you.

And with all the hype that surrounds them, it’s easy to get caught up in the storm. But is