Newmark's IPO Underwhelms, Analysts Attribute Struggles To Poor Timing And Pricing Concerns

It's a month following the long-awaited initial public offering of Newmark Group Inc., and the company's stock has fallen short of expectations. Concerns regarding poor IPO timing and pricing confusion has kept investors at bay, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Newmark, a commercial real estate services firm that includes brokerage Newmark Knight Frank, went public in early December with plans to sell 30 million shares at a price tag of $19 to $22/share. But when investor reactions came in lukewarm, parent company BGC Partners Inc. made the decision to decrease the offering size to 20 million shares at a cost of $14 to $15. On Dec. 15, the company officially went public at $14/share.

Some analysts attribute the meager results to poor timing, as the IPO coincided not only with the holidays, but with a period of time in which investors are expressing concern regarding the length of the bull market — which is in its ninth year.

The initial range of Newmark's stock price has also been called high and was confusing to investors because the numbers were decided based on adjusted earnings that did not employ standard Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The first range would have put Newmark on par with some of the largest firms in the industry, including CBRE and JLL, though Newmark CEO Barry Gosin has argued this was on the low end of the industry spectrum.

Despite the poor performance, Gosin remains optimistic and told the WSJ the company will continue to grow its earnings.

Newmark's share price has since improved slightly, rising to $15.47 as of Tuesday.