A space and defense hardware company saw its stock price climb during its first day of trading on Wednesday, giving the business a market value of $3.54 billion.
Applied Aerospace & Defense, headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, watched its shares gain 3.8% during its initial trading session on the New York Stock Exchange. The company’s stock began trading at $20.75 per share, higher than its initial offering price of $20.
The company successfully sold 32.5 million shares priced between $18 and $21 each, generating $650 million in capital through the public offering.
Market activity for new stock offerings has picked up steam over the last two months following a slowdown in March. Several major companies are preparing to launch their own public offerings this week, including Quantinuum, a quantum computing business owned by Honeywell, and gas engine maker Innio.
Recent tensions involving the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran have contributed to increased interest in defense and aerospace company stock launches in recent weeks.
