On Tuesday, 20 Mordad 1405 (August 11, 2026), Ehya (ticker FLBZ), the sponge iron producer Ehya Steel Foolad Baft based in Baft, Kerman province, rose 2.98 percent (102 rials) to its price ceiling of 3,520 rials in its second trading session since its IPO, and stayed locked in a buy queue: the order book showed buyers only, with zero shares offered at the ceiling through the close. That puts the stock about 36.3 percent above its IPO discovery price of 2,582 rials, just two trading days after listing.
Background
Four percent of Ehya's shares (2,566,200,000 shares) were offered on Monday, 19 Mordad, via a combined method on Fara Bourse's second market: part through an auction among qualified investors, part at the fixed discovered price to individual and institutional shareholders. According to Bourse News, buyers in the second tranche received a tabaee (embedded) put option struck at 3,357 rials, 30 percent above the discovery price, maturing 19 Mordad 1406 (August 2027); a price floor for part of the buyer base was guaranteed from day one. The stock closed its first session (Monday) up 32.4 percent from the discovery price at 3,418 rials, then hit its ceiling again today, Tuesday. The buy queue landed on a day when Tehran's TEDPIX also set a second straight record, topping 5.742 million points.
The numbers
- Today's closing price (20 Mordad 1405, 1:20 p.m. Tehran): 3,520 rials, up 2.98 percent from yesterday (source: Sahmino trading data).
- IPO discovery price (Monday, 19 Mordad 1405): 2,582 rials (source: Bourse News; Eghtesad Online, citing IRNA).
- Gap between today's price and the IPO price: about 36.3 percent.
- Market capitalization at today's price: about 22.6 trillion tomans; at the offering it was about 16.6 trillion tomans.
- Today's P/E: 5.3; EPS: 668 rials (source: Sahmino trading data, 20 Mordad).
- Individual vs institutional flow today: individuals net-bought about 49.9 million shares while institutions sold roughly the same amount; the average individual buy order was about 33.7 million tomans and the average sell order about 370,000 tomans (approximate, based on volume times closing price).
Drivers
Three factors sit behind the queue. First, an unusually thin float: only 4 percent of Ehya's shares trade freely, a level that lets even modest demand push the stock to its ceiling and makes it more volatile than larger, more liquid names. Second, the company's industry position: at the IPO's introductory press conference, Ehya's CEO said its sponge iron product currently commands the highest price on the Iran Mercantile Exchange, and last year's exports of about 67,000 tons put the company third by export volume among Iranian sponge iron producers; total assets rose from 14.3 trillion tomans in fiscal 1404 to more than 17 trillion tomans in the unaudited six month report for 1405, with a roughly 8 percent net margin in 1404. Third, today's net sellers were institutions, not individuals, a pattern common in Iran's thin-float IPOs: major shareholders (the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization and Bank of Industry and Mine, 20 percent each) held part of the initial allocation, and part of the secondary supply is now reaching the market through that channel.
At the same press conference, Ehya's CEO also pointed to Iran's energy imbalance: the company said it lost 30 to 40 percent of its production capacity over the past two years to power and gas shortages, and this year is buying electricity on the open power exchange and installing efficient heaters for winter gas shortfalls to offset that. Construction of a 40 megawatt solar plant has also begun and is expected to supply part of the company's power needs from the start of 1406.
Outlook
There is no guarantee the buy queue holds in coming sessions: Ehya's trading history spans just two days, and thin-float Tehran listings under 5 percent free float can stay locked limit up for weeks or reverse just as fast, especially if individual demand cools. Notably, second-tranche IPO buyers already held a guaranteed price floor, the tabaee put struck at 3,357 rials; today's 3,520 rial price already sits above that floor, meaning part of that buyer group's downside risk is effectively neutralized for now. The queue coincided with a buy queue in Kama, a mining stock Sahmino covered separately today, suggesting appetite for steel and mining names extends beyond a single ticker amid Tehran's TEDPIX record run.
Bottom line
Ehya stayed locked in a buy queue on its second trading day, sitting about 36 percent above its IPO discovery price, while institutions, not individuals, were today's net sellers. The move has come on an unusually thin 4 percent free float, the same factor that makes the queue possible and that will likely make the stock's future swings sharper than larger, more liquid names.
What to watch
Whether Ehya's buy queue breaks in coming sessions, how trading volume shifts once it does, and whether its current 5.3 P/E converges with or diverges from the broader iron and steel sector; the company's first interim report since listing will be the next test of how the market is pricing it.
For the full valuation background and IPO details, see our pre-IPO report on Ehya. Track the live ticker on the Ehya price page. For a parallel buy queue in another mining name, read our Kama tape reading, and for today's TEDPIX record, see our market pulse.
