By Chibuike Oguh
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of German sandal maker Birkenstock (NYSE:BIRK) extended their gains on Wednesday, hitting the initial public offering price for the first time, following a buoyant holiday shopping season.
Strong spending by U.S. shoppers during the Thanksgiving holiday as well as Black Friday and Cyber Monday propelled retail sales to a record this year, potentially benefiting luxury brands such as Birkenstock.
The company's shares opened at $41 on Oct. 11 and have traded below the IPO price of $46 and dropped to as low as $35.83 just days after listing. On Tuesday, the stock jumped more than 9% and continued its rally on Wednesday, rising as much as 2.7% to $46.60.
The lackluster market debuts of Birkenstock as well as other hotly anticipated offerings from chip designer Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM), grocery delivery app Instacart (NASDAQ:CART) and marketing automation firm Klaviyo (NYSE:KVYO) have dampened hopes for a U.S. IPO market resurgence.
The median price target of the 17 analysts covering Birkenstock is $47.21 and the current recommendation is "buy", according to LSEG data.
Birkenstock is heavily shorted, with 5.71 million shares worth roughly $259 million having short interest, according to data and analytics firm Ortex. About 32.3 million shares were sold on the IPO.
The company is owned by U.S. private equity firm L Catterton, which is backed by French billionaire Bernard Arnault and his luxury goods empire Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy.