Arm's shares steady as Wall Street eyes IPO lock-up expiration

** U.S.-listed shares of SoftBank-backed chip designer Arm Holdings plc ARM up 0.4% at $127.20 on Tues as IPO lock-up expires

** IPOs typically include a 180-day lock-up period that prohibits pre-IPO shareholders and certain insiders from selling their holdings

** Trading volume of ~14 mln shares on the session compares to stock's 25-DMA volume of ~28.5 mln, per LSEG data

** ARM sitting about 150% above its $51 Sept IPO price

** SoftBank 9984 owns about 930 mln shares for 90% stake, and ARM's 10 largest shareholders own nearly 95% of co's shares per LSEG data. A thin float of shares available to trade can subject them to big swings

** Many of ARM’s customers including Nvidia NVDA, Alphabet's Google GOOG and Intel INTC also hold stakes, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) 2330 on Feb 21 disclosed sale of 850,000 shares

** ARM surged 93% over 3 sessions on AI-powered rally after co's strong qtrly forecast on Feb 7 after the bell

** Stock trading at forward EV (enterprise value)/sales of about 27x and roughly 84x 12-month projected earnings, LSEG data shows

** Of 29 analysts covering ARM, 16 rate "buy" or "strong buy", 11 have "hold" and 2 rate "sell" or "strong sell"

** Median PT of $105 implies about 21% decline from Tuesday's levels

** In Mar 6 note, Mizuho, which rates ARM "buy", upped its PT to $160

** Pointing to the looming lock-up expiration, Mizuho said it saw "strategic investors continuing to own ARM" given co's "attractive long-term roadmap"