IMXI

The Anthropic IPO, planned for the Nasdaq under the ticker ANT, is highly anticipated, but it comes at an interesting time with technology stocks trading lower and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) facing a scandal involving CEO Jensen Huang. Market expert Jay Woods suggests that Anthropic could learn from the recent SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) IPO.

Anthropic IPO Timing

The Anthropic IPO is expected to happen next week, after the company filed plans for a valuation of up to $1.4 trillion, below the roughly $2 trillion discussed months ago.

"They are at the point of no return where they got to get it going and maybe the retail investor will pay off because it will price lower than it really should have," Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, told Benzinga.

Woods said he is wary of any company whose S-1 filing says it could cause the end of humanity as we know it.

"These are not things that I really want to hear in an S1 filing."

The market expert says the lower valuation is a welcome sign from the company after it previously said it wanted to be bigger than SpaceX and have the biggest IPO in the world.

"Now things have shifted and now they just want to get this done and they want to launch before Thanksgiving."

Woods said he was thinking $1.5 trillion for the valuation and he’s not sure where the company came up with a $2 trillion valuation originally.

Anthropic’s IPO is scheduled to happen on Nov. 19, which comes after Nvidia reports quarterly results on Nov. 17 and possibly after Huang faces questions from Congress. Those events could put pressure on the technology sector and weigh on pricing and demand for Anthropic’s IPO.

Woods said the backdrop of Nvidia is "not what Anthropic needed right now," but he doesn’t think "it will have a dramatic impact."

Learning From SpaceX IPO

SpaceX went public in June and saw strong demand from retail investors.

"I thought SpaceX was handled almost perfectly," Woods said. "We got the post-IPO pop. It sold off."

Woods said that SpaceX was also able to overcome big fears about future insider share unlocks. The IPO also priced under $2 trillion after originally planning that valuation, leaving some room for investors to buy below what many perceived to be the company’s valuation.

The market expert said he’s not sure if Anthropic’s structure is the same, but insider selling could be a topic again for the new IPO.

"The retail investor, they’ve been waiting for this for a while, but maybe they’re a little skittish."

Woods said some investors may wait for a better opportunity to buy Anthropic stock after watching what happened when SpaceX shares sold off after the initial post-IPO pop.

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