2 IPO Stocks to Watch in 2026

One indication of a healthy environment for equities is the number of initial public offerings (IPO) entering the market. Going public, after all, is ultimately about raising capital to grow a business. Happily, in 2025, the total number of IPOs surpassed the 200 mark, according to researcher Renaissance Capital. That was up significantly from the 150 of the previous year.

Assuming neither the economy nor the stock market tanks anytime soon, 2026 looks set to be a prosperous year too. Several high-profile IPOs are reportedly in the planning stages, and two, SpaceX and Kraken, should make quite a splash when they hit the market. Here's a look at both future stocks.

1. SpaceX

One interesting development during the past few decades has been the proliferation of for-profit space companies. A clutch of these enterprises is publicly traded, but at the moment, the most high-profile one is not.

Image source: Getty Images.

This, of course, is SpaceX, founded and led by Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk. The ambitious Musk has soaring goals for the company, which is already the No. 1 space-launch business in the world. Recently, Musk said that SpaceX's plan is to IPO in 2026.

The company already generates billions of dollars in revenue from a diverse range of activities. It gets paid for sending both human and cargo payloads into space and does a brisk business providing telecom and internet services via its Starlink subsidiary, among other things.

Since SpaceX is privately held at the moment, we don't have exact figures for how many greenbacks are flowing into its coffers. In June, Musk said he expected the company would take in $15.5 billion in revenue in 2025.

In a December article Bloomberg quoted an estimate from unidentified "people familiar with the matter," that SpaceX's 2026 top line could reach $22 billion to $24 billion. Assuming Musk's 2025 projection is accurate, that would mean a growth rate of at least 42%.

The great appeal of SpaceX, though, is that it's positioning itself to earn far more than this. One of its hotter ambitions is to build a network of cutting-edge, artificial intelligence (AI)-capable data centers in space. Placing such facilities beyond our world confers numerous advantages, such as the cooling effect of space's vacuum.

As we've seen with Tesla, though, anyone wanting to invest in a Musk venture has to pay up for the privilege. SpaceX already has a whopping $800 billion valuation, according to reports, and speculation is rife that the IPO could be valued at $30 billion or more, according to (again) Bloomberg.

This would make SpaceX the largest IPO ever, and instantly create one of the world's largest businesses in terms of market cap. Which, somehow, seems fitting for a company that hopes to be a major force above and outside this planet.

2. Kraken

Does the world really need another cryptocurrency exchange?

We'll soon see. In November, Kraken filed an S-1 -- a foundational regulatory document required of all companies aiming to IPO. That's usually one of the final steps before a business first sells a chunk of its stock.

Image source: Getty Images.

Kraken attempts to set itself apart from other exchanges, which include not only crypto-heavy plays like Coinbase Global but also trading houses that embrace digital coinage, such as brokerage Robinhood Markets.

It does this by heavily emphasizing security -- it happens to be the one major crypto exchange that hasn't experienced a platform-wide hack of its system. The company also offers sophisticated trading tools for advanced and institutional clients, making it very competitive with such users.

Another characteristic separating Kraken from the purer crypto exchange operators is that it's no longer all-in with cryptocurrencies. For example, this past April, it launched Kraken Securities, a system that facilitated trading in more than 11,000 stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed on U.S exchanges.

For a business that remains in private hands, Kraken has been very willing to disclose its finances recently (another sign that an IPO may be forthcoming).

In the third quarter, the company's revenue not in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) was $648 million, which was more than double the sub-$304 million in the same period of 2024. This was on the back of an even more dramatic rise in total platform transaction volume, to almost $577 billion from the year-ago tally of $273 billion.

Kraken didn't break out its bottom-line results -- it has stated that it posts "sustained profitability."

So we can infer that Kraken's efforts to expand its business are attracting customers to the platform. Management, then, seems to have a knack for identifying and executing on what its clientele wants from its blend of crypto and more traditional equity trading services.

This bodes well for its future, and makes Kraken an important company to watch -- especially for crypto bulls -- in the event of a 2026 IPO.

In late November, Kraken closed out its latest funding round, announcing that it had raised a total of $800 million and signed an agreement for a follow-up $200 million investment from a single institutional investor. At that point, the company said its valuation was $20 billion.

Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.