Category Archives: The IPO Buzz

 

These headlines – “As Lock-Up Expires, Groupon’s Shares Plunge” and “Groupon shares drop as IPO lock-up ends” – ran on two major financial news services on Friday, June 1. Not to be outdone, more than a dozen others chimed in with their versions of the same story.

 

 

The Facebook (FB) IPO came to town on Friday with the all the hype of a three-ring circus. It left town at the closing bell, looking like the circus grounds after the show was over.

 

Moonshots and blockbusters conjure up excitement in IPO Valley. An IPO moonshot is an opening-day gain of 100 percent or more, while a blockbuster is an offering that aims to raise $1 billion or more. Facebook (FB-proposed) is a blockbuster. It remains to be seen if it will be a moonshot.

Facebook (FB-proposed) dominated the news when it announced its IPO’s offering terms and a pricing date last week. The deal is set to make its debut on Friday, May 18. However we are getting ahead of ourselves. This week’s IPO calendar has a dozen companies waiting to get priced. But let’s take a quick peak at Facebook first.

 

Two IPOs are coming to town this week with all the fanfare of a three-ring circus. They are The Carlyle Group L.P. and Tilly’s. The question is, “What will the circus grounds look like after their opening-day show is over?”

 

Technology companies are the shining stars in the spring IPO skies. Last week’s calendar produced a moonshot and a starburst while the pending Facebook (FB – proposed) IPO is waiting in the wings.

 

 

Technology was king in the U.S. stock markets during this year’s first quarter. The Nasdaq Composite Index posted an 18.7 percent gain for Q1, the best showing by any of the three major U.S. stock market indexes. In the background, the IPO Class of 2012 was up 32.8 percent and the technology sector scored a 58.8 percent gain. If this wasn’t enough, the world is anxiously waiting for Facebook to announce its offering terms and pricing date.