IPO market slowed down in 2015IPO market slowed down in 2015

When Shake Shack Inc. went public in January and more than doubled its stock price on its first day of trading — mere weeks after burger chain The Habit Restaurants Inc. also doubled — it seemed as if 2015 was to be a big year in the initial public offering market.

That didn’t happen. In fact, the opposite happened: The IPO market seemed to slow down in 2015.

One company, J. Alexander’s Holdings, Inc., didn’t generate enough interest to have an IPO and was spun off to shareholders of its owner, Fidelity National Financial Inc. Habit, meanwhile, had to delay a secondary offering in November, citing “capital market conditions.”

To be sure, Wingstop Inc., Fogo de Chão Inc. and Bojangles’ Inc. all had offerings. But none of them equaled the 70...