Category Archives: The IPO Buzz

The financial press has recently reported a surge in the number of IPO cancellations, but that’s only half the story. What has been overlooked has been the number of new IPO filings. They have been running at a faster pace. The ratio of new filings versus cancellations has been 2-to-1.

The timetable for the IPO Express can be found in the new-issues calendar. Lately it has been bleak, due to the stock market’s correction. But there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

It’s an ill wind that doesn’t blow some good, and the recent blast of frigid weather on Wall Street could not have come at a better time for the IPO calendar.

The best thing about this week’s IPO calendar is most of the deals are to be priced Thursday evening for Friday’s trading. By then, hopefully, the stock market’s four-week sell-off will have been snapped.

If you think an 11-day sell-off of 10.4 percent in the Nasdaq Composite Index spooked bankers, think again. The forward IPO calendar started filling up and, during the first two weeks of the year, they added nearly as many deals to the IPO pipeline as they did during the first two weeks, collectively, over the last five years.

The gates to 2008’s IPO market swing open this week with just two offerings on the agenda. One is a popular deal everybody loves – a “blank check” offering –- and the other is a carry-over from the past.

By the end of the year, 2007’s IPO market was looking more and more like Aesop’s fable of “The Tortoise and the Hare.” There were some jackrabbit aftermarket performances among this year’s offerings. But the real story was the surging number of “blank check” offerings -– the tortoises. All traded around their offering prices -– no aftermarket pops and no aftermarket flops.

Happy Holidays from the staff of IPOScoop.com.

 

The IPO Buzz column will return next week.

 

Wishing all of our readers and subscribers a happy, healthy and safe holiday break!

NetSuite is the big buzz in this week’s IPO calendar, but nature tends to side with the hidden flaw. The sobering factor is the deal is coming to market as a Dutch auction, which usually doesn’t produce opening-day moonshots.

The IPO Express is gearing up for its last significant run of the year. Bankers hope to price as many as 15 deals this week, another four next week and that should be it for 2007.