Big-name, buzzy stock market debuts have fizzled lately: Just look at SpaceX. But there's an unexpected and little-known winner -- AOL's new parent company, Bending Spoons.
Shares of the Italian digital media conglomerate have jumped nearly 15% from their initial public offering price since they began trading on July 1. Wall Street, however, isn't entirely convinced that Bending Spoons can sustain its current gains.
Ten analysts launched coverage of Bending Spoons on Monday, with four rating the stock at Hold, and six rating it Buy. That level of skepticism is unusual. Wall Street analysts often issue ebullient coverage of newly public stocks, especially if their investment banks helped underwrite the IPO.
The average price target is just under $40 a share, 17% higher than where the stock closed Friday. Bending Spoons tumbled more than 2% Monday to around $33.25.
The skeptics who launched coverage Monday are primarily concerned about the stock's valuation after the past few weeks' strong showing and the company's ability to continue making successful acquisitions.
In addition to its $1.5 billion acquisition of AOL earlier this year, Bending Spoons has bought several other digital media firms, including video sites Vimeo and Brightcove, to-do list app Evernote, and online ticket platform Eventbrite.
J.P. Morgan's Doug Anmuth rates the stock at Neutral (basically a Hold), and has a $35 price target on the stock, barely above Friday's closing price. While Bending Spoons has been successful with smaller acquisitions so far, his concern is about the plans to do even bigger deals, he wrote in a Monday report. He says he would be wary "until the company demonstrates sustained returns at materially higher capital deployment levels."
Evercore ISI's Kirk Materne, who has an In Line rating on the stock and $36 price target, also says investors need to be cautious. He says the stock is "likely to remain range bound" until the company proves it can successfully pull off even larger acquisitions.
"We expect shares could be in 'show me' mode until more deals are completed," he added.
CEO Luca Ferrari told Barron's on its IPO day that the goal is to revitalize brands that may have lost their way. The company -- which is named for the magic trick that makes it look like a metal spoon is actually bending -- plans to keep growing via acquisitions, especially now that it has stock it can use as currency for deals.
The bulls acknowledge this is a risk as well, but they see more opportunities than concerns. Eric Sheridan of Goldman Sachs says Bending Spoons can post revenue growth of 36% a year over the next five years, largely due to current and future acquisitions. He has a $43 price target on the stock.
Wells Fargo's Alec Brondolo is even more bullish, with a $45 price target. His rationale? The company is "improving the quality of the underlying products and services it acquires, despite operating them at a substantially lower head count." That should lead to higher profit margins.
And Lloyd Walmsley of Mizuho, who also has a $45 price target on the stock, called the company a "value creation machine" -- adding that the company's skew toward subscription-based companies makes it less dependent on more fickle advertising spending.
The solid showing for Bending Spoons in its first month as a public company could be a good sign for other coming IPOs -- despite the setbacks for SpaceX and other high-profile new listings. Those stocks' struggles stem, in part, from fears about both the disruptive effects of artificial intelligence and concerns about excessive valuations for tech stocks.
SpaceX has stumbled since its ballyhooed initial public offering. South Korean memory chip maker SK Hynix has fizzled lately following its U.S. market debut, while two other high-profile IPOs, Quantinuum and Cerebras Systems, have struggled too.
The next big IPO test? Popular sandwich chain Jersey Mike's is set to make its debut later this week, looking to raise $1 billion at a potential valuation of nearly $8 billion. And of course, the biggest test since SpaceX will be ChatGPT owner OpenAI and Claude developer Anthropic. Both AI giants have filed confidentially to go public.
Write to Paul R. La Monica at paul.lamonica@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 27, 2026 16:25 ET (20:25 GMT)
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