Investing

8 Companies That Had Their IPO in 2004: Best and Worst Performers

Andrew Dupont

Published: November 18, 2023 9:44 am

Last Updated: November 18, 2023 9:51 am

It’s crazy to think what was going on in 2004. The Boston Red Sox won their first World Series in 80 years. “Yeah!” by Usher was the number-one song. Gas prices were slightly under two dollars across the United States. 2004 was also a great year to go public if you were a company. The dot com bubble was winding down, which meant the companies that truly made it were emerging. When you have a company that’s incredibly popular amongst the masses, one of the smartest things you can do is take it public. You can look at any year, like 2011, and see companies make this leap. It’s easier to make additional money to invest in the company when it’s public. In total, 216 companies had their IPO in 2004. For some, it went incredibly well. Others….. not so much.

Google

• Launch Date: August 19, 2004
• Open Price: $85

The dot com bubble had some winners. There’s not another company that has had more success thanks to the dot com bubble than Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL). The company first went public and offered a share price of two dollars. That’s right. You could have gotten in on Google at $85. Google is now worth around $130 per share, with an all-time high being just under $150. This isn’t how you’d have made the most money. Google has split their shares of stocks two different times. The first time was in 2014 when you were given 1998 shares for every 1000 shares, just under doubling up on the amount of shares you own. The second time they did this was in 2022, where you would get 20 new shares for every share you had.

Build-A-Bear

Potomac Mills - Build-A-Bear Workshop (CC BY-SA 3.0) by Aolden23

• Launch Date: October 29, 2004
• Open Price: $24.41

Sadly, with all of the good stocks come stocks that didn’t do as well as we would have thought. One stock in particular that stands out is Build-A-Bear (NYSE: BBW). This company was a huge success commercially, thanks to being able to design your bear. Kids loved creating their bears, and couples would give each other one as a cute symbol of love. Unfortunately, the stock hasn’t had much success. This company first went public with a value of $24.41 and now is worth $25.24. In December 2004, the stock went up to $35. People were excited to see where this could go. This is the highest the stock has ever gotten, but it could still rise shortly.

Domino’s

• Launch Date: July 16, 2004
• Open Price: $13.83

Few things unite the world we live in together better than food. Domino’s (NYSE: DPZ) is the largest pizza chain in the world, another company that decided to go public. Unlike Google, Domino’s was around for more than forty years before they took their company to Wall Street. Believe it or not, you could get in on Domino’s stock for $13.81 when it first went public. You didn’t see a lot of growth from this stock until June 2012. At this point, the stock had only risen to $29, which isn’t bad, but after eight years, you’d hope for more. By 2013, the stock hit $45, essentially seeing the same growth in six months after the first eight years. In December 2021, the stock hit its high of $545 and is now settling at $375.

Cyberlink

• Launch Date: October 1, 2004
• Open Price: $71.10

When you see a stock that’s going for $96, that typically means it’s doing a lot better than where it first started. This isn’t quite the case for Cyberlink (TPE: 5203). Back in 2004, the first shares were sold at $71.10. This software company is headquartered out of Taiwan and is another that showed early signs of a stock that could take over. By 2007, each share was worth over $200. April of 2010 was when the stock started to struggle. It was worth $170 at the time but fell to $59.62 per share by December 2011. Ever since then, Cyberlink has struggled to bounce back to where it once was. March 6, 2020, the stock hit its high between December 2011 and November 2023 with a price of $108.50. Things were looking up, but the whole world changed one week later both for this company and the public.

Salesforce

• Launch Date: June 25, 2004
• Open Price: $3.95

Thanks to the internet, all of our information is out there. One way companies keep it organized is through a customer relationship management system. The leader in this technology is Salesforce (NYSE: CRM). This company was another product of the dot com bubble burst, as they were created in 1999. When Salesforce went public, their shares were only four dollars. Much like Domino’s, the burst for Salesforce took a bit longer than expected. 2008 is when the real growth started, which was shocking due to the recession. Each share dipped to the price of $5.58, but the real upward trend started from there. In November 2021, the stock reached a value of $307 per share. Even though there have been peaks and valleys, the stock hasn’t dipped below $100 since 2017, which has made this company a public favorite.

Signature Bank

• Launch Date: March 26, 2004
• Open Price: $19.39

There was a time not too long ago when Signature Bank (NASDAQ: SBNY) would have been on the list as one of the most successful stocks that had their IPO in 2004. The stock opened in 2004 with a price of $19.39 per share. The company experienced steady growth and got to a price of $76 per share in November 2020. There were peaks and valleys, but the stock shot up to $238 by March 2021. In January 2022, each share was going for $365 per share. Things were looking up and amazing for Signature Bank. March 2023 was the kiss of death for Signature Bank. The customers took out more than $10 billion in money because of the association the bank had with cryptocurrency. This alliance was part of the reason why the value of the stock flew up so high, to begin with. Signature Bank is still in the process of selling off the rest of its debts and assets.

CBRE Group

• Launch Date: June 10, 2004
• Open Price: $6.12

One of the oldest ways to invest money and get rich is through real estate. It’s hard for a lot of individual people to have enough money to own their property and a piece of real estate property. The CBRE Group (NYSE: CBRE) helps you without feeling like you need to own an entire home. This investment group focused on commercial real estate and went public in 2004, almost 100 years after opening its doors. The first share price was worth $6.12 and started to shoot up right away. By 2007, shares reached $40, but then the housing bubble burst. By 2009, shares of this company went as low as $2.52. CBRE stood strong and ever since has had a steady rise. In 2021, shares reached $108.

TCL Technology

• Launch Date: January 30, 2004
• Open Price: $3.45

No matter who you are, you use electronics. TCL Technology (SHE: 000100) is a company that’s been looking to capitalize on the electronics and tech boom. Compared to a lot of other companies, TCL hasn’t done as well as it could have. This company first started in 1981 and went public in 2004, with a share price of $3.45. They struggled to increase their share price for a long time, before reaching one of their highest in 2014 at $6.67. Of course, almost right after this, the price went back down. They were one of the companies that did well during the pandemic, thanks to how much people were trying to use technology and electronics to stay in touch with loved ones. In January 2021, they reached a price of $9.61. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long, either. They’re now back to $4.12 in November 2023. With all the different ways technology is being used today, their price should be higher. That’s not to say it won’t be, because all it takes is one idea for them to shoot that price up.