Medical Supply Firm Medline's Stock Jumps 41% in Its Trading Debut

Key Takeaways

• Shares of medical supply company Medline soared in their trading debut on the Nasdaq Wednesday.
• The company raised more than $6 billion with the sale of 216 million shares priced at $29 each, making its the largest U.S. IPO in terms of proceeds since Rivian's in 2021.

Medline shares surged in their trading debut Wednesday, after the medical supply company raised $6.26 billion in one of the biggest initial public offerings in recent years. 

The stock, which trades under the "MDLN" stock ticker, closed at $41, up 41% from its IPO price.

The medical supply giant said Tuesday that it sold just over 216 million shares in its IPO at $29 per share, at the higher end of its previously anticipated range of $26 to $30. The company said it plans to use those proceeds to pay down some of its debts.

Medline, which sells more than 335,000 different medical and surgical products from protective equipment such as face masks to testing kits, said in a regulatory filing that sales have grown every year since the company's founding.

Medline reported net income of $977 million on $20.65 billion in revenue for the first nine months of the year ended in September, up from net income of $911 million on $18.72 billion in revenue over the same period a year earlier.

Why This Matters to Investors

Medline's strong debut marks the latest in an IPO market that has picked up from last year, though activity remains below records set in 2021. The $6.26 billion Medline raised in its IPO makes its the biggest since Rivian (RIVN) raised $11.93 billion in 2021, according to Renaissance Capital.

CEO Jim Boyle said in an interview on CNBC Wednesday that the IPO is expected to help boost Medline's brand, and that the company aims to be the "Costco of healthcare" for its medical equipment-buying customers, drawing parallels with its private label products, large supply chain, and strong vendor-customer relationships.

Related Education

What Is an IPO? How an Initial Public Offering Works

How an Initial Public Offering (IPO) Is Priced

Medline was founded in 1966, and was temporarily a public company between 1972 and 1977 before being taken private again. In 2021, Medline was bought out by a group of private equity companies including Blackstone (BX), Carlyle (CG) and Hellman & Friedman.

This article has been updated since it was first published to include additional information and reflect more recent stock prices.

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