The FTSE 100 index gained 1.1% last week, but some of its constituents’ shares declined sharply. In particular, the Darktrace (LSE: DARK) share price took a beating, sending it almost to the bottom of the FTSE 100 performance table.
The Darktrace share price takes a dive
Darktrace listed on the London Stock Exchange on 30 April at a float price of 250p. This valued the high-tech group at £1.7bn. The Darktrace share price then skyrocketed, hitting a record high of 1,003p on 24 September. In other words, the stock had quadrupled in value from its IPO in under five months.
Last week, the Darktrace share price dived by 50.07p to close at 431.73p. That’s a loss of 10.4% in five trading sessions. This makes DARK the FTSE 100’s second-worst performer of the week. What’s more, the Anglo-American cyber-security firm’s stock has crashed by more than a quarter (-25.2%) over the past month. Then again, the shares are up by 27.8% over the past six months, so what’s gone wrong lately?
Crashing stock
In the past two months, the Darktrace share price has come crashing back down to earth. Indeed, the shares have lost 57% of their value since late September. There’s now a danger that the group could drop out of the blue-chip index and into the FTSE 250 mid-cap index. One reason for Darktrace’s price plunge is the end of the IPO lock-in period of six months. Now this restriction has been lifted, large early-stage investors have been selling, driving the stock price down. It remains to be seen whether this selling pressure continues this month and into 2022.