Bausch + Lomb Corp.’s stock debuted Friday with a slight gain, which helped justify the disappointing pricing overnight of the lenses and medical devices maker’s initial public offering. The company said late Thursday that its IPO priced at $18 a share, which was well below the expected range of between $21 and $24, as the company raised $630 million. The stock’s first trade on the NYSE on Friday was at $18.50 at 12:02 p.m. Eastern for 2.2 million shares. At that price, the company was being valued at about $6.48 billion. The stock has edged higher since then to be up 4.7% at $18.85 in recent trading. The company went public at a time of relative disdain for IPOs and a tough market environment, with the Renaissance IPO ETF having plunged 43.3% year to date while the S&P 500 has tumbled 13.3%.
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