The post-Labor Day initial public offering (IPO) market is heating up, with Renaissance Capital citing "clarity on trade policy, a summer rally in growth stocks, and the prospect of rate cuts" as the catalysts behind the much-anticipated rebound.
"Heading into the fall season, we expect the fastest pace of deal activity since 2021, as more companies accelerate listing plans amid the current momentum," the IPO experts say in their fall 2025 U.S. IPO preview (PDF).
Last week, for instance, there were seven large deals, including a more than $1 billion offering from buy now, pay later firm Klarna (KLAR). And Renaissance Capital expects a total of 40 to 60 "sizable IPOs by year-end."
Among them is StubHub (STUB), which has been one of the most-anticipated upcoming IPOs of 2025.
When is the StubHub IPO?
In August, the online ticket marketplace refiled its IPO paperwork after pausing efforts this spring amid uncertainty surrounding President Donald Trump's tariff policies.
And on Tuesday, September 16, StubHub priced its public offering at $23.50 per share, in the middle of its previously announced range of $22 to $25.
Based on the roughly 34 million shares it made available, StubHub raised $800 million in the offering, making it one of the biggest IPOs of the year.
This also puts its valuation at $8.6 billion, although this is below the $16.5 billion valuation it received during a late-2021 round of funding.
As for its first day of trading, STUB stock opened at $25.35, hit an intraday high of $26.34, and closed at $22.00.
It ended the day with a market valuation of $7.5 billion.
How profitable is StubHub?
According to StubHub's updated IPO prospectus, the company had gross merchandise sales, or the total dollar value paid by buyers for ticket transactions and fulfillment, of $8.7 billion in 2024. This was 27% higher than the year prior.
It also sold more than 40 million tickets and had north of 1 million unique sellers.
In the first half of 2025, StubHub's revenue was up 3% year over year to $827.9 million. Its net loss, meanwhile, widened to $76 million from $24 million in the first half of 2024.
Should I buy the StubHub IPO?
"An initial public offering enables a private company to 'go public,' or start trading in public markets, by issuing its own shares on a stock exchange for the first time. In this way, any investor can buy shares and the company can raise capital to grow," Kiplinger contributing writer Tom Taulli writes in his article, "What Is an Initial Public Offering (IPO)?".
And first-day performance for IPOs in 2025 has been strong, says the team of analysts at Trivariate Research, a market research firm based in New York, with the average Day 1 return of 26% for new stocks this year the highest since 2020.
But buyer beware. IPOs can be extremely volatile, and as Trivariate Research notes, "while first day returns were on average strong for IPOs, returns after the first day for the first year were generally weak."
Ultimately, the decision to buy the StubHub IPO comes down to your own risk tolerance and personal investing goals. If you do choose to buy shares of STUB stock when they first begin trading, it's prudent to do so in a small amount that you can afford to lose and have a trading plan in place.
