Category Archives: The IPO Buzz

 

The IPO market closed out 2012’s first half with a bang. On Friday – the final trading day of the six-month period – ServiceNow (NOW), a cloud-computer company, scored a gain of 36.7 percent in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. (More on that later.) ServiceNow was one of four IPOs to hit the launching pad during the final week of June. All finished in the winner’s circle – a fitting coda just before the IPO market’s Fourth of July break.

 

With one eye on the stock market and the other on hope, this week’s IPO calendar has four deals on its launching pad. The IPO experts had not expected any movement until after the July 4^th break, and they still might be right.

 

It’s always a good idea to read the fine print in a contract, even if it’s so thin that it looks like a straight line. And it’s a good idea to read an IPO’s “red herring.” One will find valuable information within its pages.

 

 

The IPO market was hit with double whammies that dried up the calendar. But somewhere in time, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

 

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?”