Read anything about the IPO landscape in 2022 and 2023, and you’d find a pretty grim picture. So here’s a question to jump-start your 2024: Will this be the year the IPO market finally makes a much-needed rebound?

There’s a collective sense of bottled, pent-up momentum for the 2024 IPO market, and whether that excitement turns into public offerings depends on a number of moving parts.

Mike Bellin, the co-leader of PwC’s IPO services practice, and Eric Hall, partner with the CFO consulting firm FLG Partners, had the same two-word reply, with respect to IPOs in 2024: “Fingers crossed.”

From some angles, the 2024 IPO glass looks half-full. “We had some good earnings momentum coming out of 2023 and some good projections going into 2024 and beyond. That’ll be part of the catalyst that hopefully gets things going again,” Bellin said. “There’s a lot of, I’ll say, dry powder on the sidelines with private equity, with investors that are looking for the right assets to invest in. I think everything’s there for the making of a strong IPO market.”

Click here for more on what the 2024 IPO market holds.—NP

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For the sake of its long-term health, Walgreens has ripped off the Band-Aid.

The retail pharmacy giant made headlines earlier this month upon announcing it nearly halved its dividend. Tim Wentworth, chief executive of Walgreens Boots Alliance, said in a statement the move allows the company “to invest in sustainable growth initiatives in our pharmacy and healthcare businesses, which we believe will ultimately improve shareholder value.” The statement didn’t name specific initiatives.

“That’s a pretty bold move for a brand new, incoming CEO,” Stephanie Davis, managing director at Barclays who leads its equity research on the US healthcare technology and digital health sector, told CFO Brew. “[It] does show that he’s very willing to do whatever it takes to preserve that investment-grade rating. While that’s not going to be wonderful for the stock immediately when you do cut the dividend, it affirms [what] he’s focused on, [what] he’s executing, and there’s a lot of value to that.”

Wentworth told CNBC that most investors are “excited about the fact that we’re going to have additional capital to invest in the core business in a way that stimulates growth again, because that ultimately is going to be the most shareholder-friendly thing we can do.”

For more on how the dividend cut will impact Walgreens, click here.—AZ

Well, it’s a start for Goldman Sachs, anyway.

After eight straight quarters of declining earnings, the investment banking giant reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $2 billion, a 51% year over year boost, as a strategic shift is showing signs of success. The bank’s profit bump was driven by growth in asset and wealth management. Revenues climbed 23% YoY and 36% from Q3 in those categories, while revenues dropped in the bank’s traditional investment and trading segments.

“We made significant progress this year in narrowing our strategic focus,” CFO Denis Coleman said on an earnings call.

The bank is moving away from its traditional strengths of investment banking and stock trading toward asset and wealth management. Chair and CEO David Solomon said his firm predicts the latter segments will be even more lucrative moving forward.

For more on how Goldman’s strategic pivot is playing out, click here.—AZ

Today’s top finance reads.

Stat: 24%. That’s how far Archer Daniels Midland’s stock fell on Monday, following news that the SEC asked it to investigate accounting practices in its nutrition segment. It was the company’s worst stock performance since the 1929 stock market crash. (Reuters)

Quote: “My No. 1 competitor is the Chinese carmakers.”—Carlos Tavares, CEO of Stellantis, speaking at a media roundtable. China overtook Japan to become the world’s largest car exporter in 2023. (CNBC)

Read: De minimis, a trade rule altered in 2016, threatens the survival of some of the last remaining cotton producers and apparel manufacturers in the southern US. (the New York Times)

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