What Is the Petco IPO Date?

petco ipo datePetco filed to go public for the second time yesterday (Monday) afternoon. Although there's no official Petco IPO date yet, the deal could become one of the most popular consumer IPOs of 2015.

The pet supplies retail chain filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a $100 million deal. However, that figure is just a placeholder for filing purposes. According to Renaissance Capital, a manager of IPO-focused ETFs, the Petco IPO could raise up to $500 million. That would value the company at $5 billion.

The Petco IPO date will come less than 10 years after Petco stock stopped trading. In 2006, Petco was bought out for $1.8 billion by private equity firms TPG Capital and Leonard Green Partners. The Petco IPO filing states that TPG currently owns about 47% of the company, while Leonard Green owns 38%.

The chain has benefited from a sharp spike in spending on pets recently. The company said in its filing that American spending on pet supplies will hit $76.6 billion in 2015. That's up 22% from $62.7 billion in 2010, despite the percentage of U.S. households with pets remaining near 54% over the same time period.

The company booked a profit of $75.3 million last year, constituting 1.9% of its net sales. That represents a slight decline from a 2013 profit of $84.8 million, or 2.2% of net sales.

Now that we know the Petco IPO's initial details, investors are wondering if they should invest when the Petco IPO date rolls around...

Should You Invest in the Petco IPO?

With strong profits and 1,400 nationwide locations, Petco stock could become a healthy investment down the road.

But we recommend waiting until after the Petco IPO to consider purchasing shares of the company. That's because retail investors like you and me are at a disadvantage during the IPO process.

You see, IPOs only benefit institutional investors like hedge fund managers and investment banks that are willing to buy large quantities of a stock before its debut. These Wall Street "VIPs" provide the companies triple-digit gains on their first day of trading. That can lead traders to believe they can capture most of these profits if they jump in right away.

Frequently, new investors will rush into a new stock following an IPO when the share price has already surged during initial trading. At that point, you're buying in at an inflated price and missing out on the gains the wealthy Wall Street investors already snagged.

When the price falls back to Earth after the initial frenzy, retail investors who aren't in the "VIP club" will see huge losses.

But according to Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald, there are still a few ways to profit from a hot new stock like Petco.

Here are the three best ways to play the exciting IPO market...

Alex McGuire is an associate editor for Money Morning who writes about upcoming IPOs. Follow him on Twitter at @AlexMcGuire92 for the biggest IPO news.