ARTICLE SUMMARY:
The window for medical device IPOs is open after many barren years, thanks to the tremendous run up in the broader biotech sector and a few bellwether stocks. Investment bankers say the accepting environment is likely to continue this fall, although it is not as big or robust as the investor appetite for biotech, and its aftermarket performance to date is mixed.
Roughly 12 to 16 medical device companies went public in 2014, as of the end of August, with the count varying depending on the definition of the sector. (See Figure 1.) That is only a fraction of the dozens of biotech IPOs year-to-date, but a significant increase from previous years, when device companies were largely shut out of IPO markets.
