Opportunity

You may argue I am paranoid and have an unjustified bias against IPO. Many opportunities of making money would be missed.

That may be true. Nonetheless, let's ask ourselves: What is the principal criteria of selecting a stock or other investment product?

Right. It is perfectly acceptable to miss as many good opportunities as possible - there are thousands of them each day, and no one on earth could spot all (or even one-tenth). As Benjamin Graham said (in Security Analysis), the primary objective is to avoid trouble; we try our best to avoid issues that would lead us to deep water.

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Discerning readers may notice my argument against buying IPO does not apply to all new stocks.

The best example is state-owned enterprise: It is to the interest of the government to sell out the business, and, for various political reasons, the price of the initial offer is usually attractive.

But, I remain skeptical.