2 New IPO Stocks in Town – UBS Picks the Superior One to Buy

Business Insider

15 hours ago

IPOs are vital to the long-term success of the stock markets. They introduce new companies to public trading and provide investors with fresh opportunities. Because IPO activity is closely tied to broader economic conditions, it serves as a useful barometer of market health. With that in mind, let's look at what 2025 has brought to the IPO landscape.
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Looking at the raw numbers, IPOs are up this year. For the first half of 2025, we've seen 109 new public offerings, compared to 81 in the first half last year. At the same time, those offerings have raised $17.1 billion, a drop of $1.7 billion compared to last year. Tech companies are leading the pack in IPOs right now; they make up slightly more than one-third of the total new offerings and about half of the total proceeds. The financial services sector ranks second in both categories. Overall, new stocks are entering the market from a wide range of business sectors.
This is sure to pick up interest from the Street's analysts, and as usual, the stock pros are coming through. The analysts at Swiss banking giant UBS have taken a look at two new IPO stocks – and they have come down to a firm recommendation on which one is the superior stock to buy. We've opened up the TipRanks database to get a look at the broader Wall Street view of each. Here's a closer look at them, and at the UBS comments.
NIQ Global Intelligence (NIQ)
The first new IPO stock we'll look at, NIQ Global Intelligence, is a Chicago-based consumer intelligence company that is a leader in the related fields of market research and consumer insights. The company boasts that it delivers the 'Full View,' that is, the most comprehensive consumer insights available. NIQ focuses on understanding consumer buying behavior and on revealing new pathways to expand positive trends. The company makes use of advanced analytics and state-of-the-art platforms to put together a comprehensive data resource.
That broad reach shows up in the numbers. NIQ's intelligence spans more than 90 countries, covering some 85% of the world's total population and accounting for over $7.2 trillion in consumer spending. Each week, the company processes 3.1 trillion data records. Importantly, NIQ doesn't just collect data, it packages it into actionable insights. Some 23,000 client companies, including most of the Fortune 100, rely on NIQ's services to sharpen their understanding of customers and markets.
To further strengthen its position, NIQ has pursued acquisitions as a way to broaden its capabilities. Most recently, it announced the purchase of Mtrix, a Brazilian software company that specializes in visibility for indirect distribution supply chains. This deal highlights NIQ's push into Latin America, signaling management's intent to diversify both its customer base and its geographic exposure.
These expansions feed directly into NIQ's product suite. Beyond gathering and analyzing data, the company provides enterprise clients with tools that translate insights into strategy, helping businesses track market shifts, anticipate consumer behavior, and refine branding.
All of this set the stage for NIQ's IPO on July 23. The company priced shares at $21 and raised $1.05 billion by selling 50 million shares. Trading since then has been choppy, with shares slipping to $16.94, leaving NIQ with a market cap of $5.15 billion about a month after the debut.
Investors also got their first look at NIQ's post-IPO financials when the company reported 2Q25 earnings on August 14. Revenue came in at $1.04 billion, up 5.6% year-over-year, though the bottom line showed a GAAP EPS of -$0.14.
This stock has caught the eye of UBS analyst Kevin McVeigh, who notes the strength of the company's product offering as a chief advantage.
'We believe NIQ offerings are crucial to clients' understanding of what/when/how much consumers are buying with its Intelligence solution [~80% revenue], while also providing a comprehensive view of why consumers are buying a product with Activation solution [~20% revenue]. Amid highly recurring revenue – Intelligence 2024 97% gross retention + 104% net retention – we model ~5% organic constant currency revenue 2024-27E CAGR… With the stock trading at $17.40, the market implied 2027 adj. EBITDA is ~$0.9b vs. UBSe of ~$1.1b, making us believe that the market is not capturing the impact of revenue growth and/or efficiencies,' McVeigh opined.
On that basis, McVeigh assigns NIQ with a Buy rating and a $24 price target, implying ~42% upside over the next year. (To watch McVeigh's track record, click here)
It's clear from the consensus rating, a Strong Buy based on 10 Buys and 2 Holds, that Wall Street generally agrees with McVeigh's bullish view on this one. The $22.88 average price target suggests a potential gain of 35% for the year ahead. (See NIQ stock forecast)
McGraw Hill (MH)
From tech-based consumer research, we'll switch over to a more traditional mode of information dissemination – textbook publishing. While it may not draw headlines the way cutting-edge analytics do, textbook publishing is still a multi-billion-dollar industry with deep connections to schools, universities, and training programs. And in this specialized world, McGraw Hill has stood out as a leading player for more than a century.
The company was founded in 1888, and today produces textbooks and other educational materials for everything from grades pre-K through 12 to trade schools to colleges and universities to professional training entities. McGraw Hill has a global footprint and has marketing, sales, and distribution operations in over 100 countries, with textbooks and materials published in more than 80 languages. If you have kids in school, at any level, there is a strong chance that they are using, or have used, a textbook published by McGraw Hill.
The company, once publicly traded under the ticker MHP, was taken private in a $2.5 billion Apollo Global Management deal in 2012 – only to return to the markets in July with a high-profile IPO. The debut wasn't smooth: shares opened at $17, below the targeted $19–$22 range, raising $414 million. Since then, they've slipped another 14%, leaving McGraw Hill with a market cap of $2.79 billion.
The company's first earnings report as a public entity offered some early context. Covering the last quarter before the IPO, fiscal 1Q26 showed $535.7 million in revenue, up 2.4% year over year, and a swing to modest profitability from a prior loss.
Those results provided a baseline, but UBS analyst Joshua Chan remains cautious, noting that McGraw Hill operates in a highly competitive industry where even a market leader can struggle to expand gains.
'In order to deliver targeted 5%+ revenue growth over time, we think share gains and execution are needed in this tougher market which has some demographic/policy headwinds and where substitution/ AI remain lingering questions. Some evidence of share gains is seen in recent years, which is encouraging. But with growth being inherently lumpy (K-12 adoptions), F2026 being a down year, and the company being a newly-public entity, we think near-term risk/reward is balanced,' Chan opined.
Other analysts, however, are more optimistic. Since the IPO, McGraw Hill has drawn 12 ratings, with 11 of them recommending Buy. That consensus gives the stock a Strong Buy rating, with an average price target of $20.18 – a projected 38% gain from current levels. (See MH stock forecast)
Having laid out the facts, it's clear that the UBS analysts see NIQ as the superior stock to buy for investors interested in the latest IPOs.
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