Special Situation: Yeti Holdings IPO

Article Excerpt

YETI HOLDINGS INC. (to trade on New York under the symbol YETI) makes premium coolers, drinkware and clothing for campers, boaters and hunters. It sells those products through national retailers such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, Bass Pro Shops, and Ace Hardware. It also uses its own website to sell goods. Yeti now plans an IPO of 20.0 million shares at between $19 and $21 a share by the end of October 2018. Insiders will get $350 million of the likely proceeds of $400 million. That leaves the company with just $50 million. It has earmarked $41.5 million of that cash to pay down its long-term debt of $435.4 million (about 25% of its projected market cap). Yeti is expanding sales in its niche market and its brand is strong. Still, rising raw material and transportation costs could hurt profit margins. Rising competition is also a concern. Yeti has promise but it will have little cash left after its debt repayments to invest in its business…