We can assure you that James Bond was shaken, not stirred, after hearing the news about Aston Martin’s stock market debut.
The beloved Bond car began trading on the London Stock Exchange Wednesday and by day’s end had fallen 4% below its IPO price of $24.70 USD.
Investors reportedly scoffed at a valuation that put the luxury carmaker on par with larger and more profitable Italian competitor Ferrari.
According to CEO Andy Palmer, as only the second luxury carmaker to go public, and the first UK carmaker in more than 3 decades, the market is still “adjusting” to the idea.
Not to mention the sticker shock: The IPO valued the 105-year-old company at $5.6B USD — that’s 20.7x its first-half earnings, a few notches shy of the current 21x share multiple that Ferrari expects to bring in 2018.
The 10-fold return comes with the company’s newfound attitude. Aston Martin has struggled during its century-long history, filing for bankruptcy 7 times.
But, since hiring Palmer in 2014, the historically loss-making automaker has overhauled its car lineup to broaden its appeal, and set its sights on a goal to sell almost 10k vehicles per year by 2020.