It was only a few weeks ago that we were discussing the wildly successful initial public offering (IPO) of the Li-S Energy Ltd (ASX: LIS) share price. This hot battery share hit the ASX boards on 29 September and immediately saw a 174% rise by the end of its first day of trading. The share price soared from the IPO price of 85 cents a share all the way to $2.33 by the end of the day.
The company's second day of life on the ASX boards saw Li-S Energy gain another 3% or so, and even hit $3.05 a share. That's its current all-time high.
But the more recent weeks of Li-S Energy's life haven't been as sweet for investors. Today, this company is currently (at the time of writing) trading for $1.98 a share. At that price, Li-S Energy is now more than 15% from where this company closed at on its first day of trading. And more than 35% from its all-time high of $3.05 a share. Over the past month, the company has lost 15.8%. That's including 10.8% in just the past trading week.
So what's gone wrong for Li-S Energy, the company that so excited investors upon its ASX IPO?
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Li-S Energy share price comes under pressure
Well, it's not entirely clear. We did get a quarterly update from Li-S Energy at the end of last month for the quarter ending 30 September. This update informed the markets that Li-S has raised $34 million from its "oversubscribed" IPO. It also stated that the company had $50.5 million in cash and cash equivalents as of 30 September. The company said:
Of this [$50.5 million], $29.1 million is earmarked for project expenditure, plus working capital of more than $16.0 million to fund potential expansion and acceleration of existing projects, commencement of new development projects and the pursuit and engagement in revenue generating opportunities…
It also told investors that "net cash flows used in operating activities during the quarter were $1.8 million".
Further, Li-S Energy gave an update on the "substantial progress" its eponymous lithium-sulphur battery technology has enjoyed over the quarter. According to Li-S Energy, "extended cycle testing" on some of this technology showed batteries "reaching 900 charge/discharge cycles at greater than 60% retained capacity". Additionally, the 'Li-Nanomesh' technology that the company has also been working on has also shown progress.
So it's not entirely clear if this update had any meaningful role in the Li-S Energy share price slide that the company has been enduring in recent weeks. It's possible of course. But it's also possible that investors got a little too excited when this company IPOed and are now letting out some steam.
At the current Li-S Energy share price of $2.01, this company has a market capitalisation of $1.34 billion.
