The company’s IPO raised $318 million, about $30 million more than it had expected a few days earlier, to fuel its expansion.
And just in time for the afternoon lunch rush, its shares opened on the New York Stock Exchange at nearly double its IPO price.
That implies Cava’s valuation is close to $5 billion, over twice the amount private investors ascribed it in 2021.
Cava is a lot like Sweetgreen – neither are profitable, and both have a similar number of stores.
But Cava now trades at more than five times its theoretical annualized sales based on the first quarter, much higher than the 1.4 times Sweetgreen commands.
Persons:
Cava, copycats, Anita Ramaswamy, John Foley, Katrina Hamlin
Organizations:
YORK, Reuters, New York Stock Exchange, Twitter, Corporate, Thomson
Locations:
Crunchbase, Cava