Category Archives: The IPO Buzz

Technology is finally elbowing its way into 2013’s IPO calendar. One small-cap offering was priced last week, and this week’s only deal is another technology IPO.

 

In like a lion, out like a lamb is the old saw about March. In the case of the IPO market, the reverse is true: It’s a mild start to the month, with just two deals on this week’s calendar – one a small-cap offering and the other a retread from the past. Nevertheless, for the first time since mid-February, IPOs are back in town. Or to paraphrase Gertrude Stein: A calendar is a calendar is a calendar.

 

Behind every success story, there’s a pillar of strength. When it comes to IPOs, that strong suit boils down to one word – or acronym: JOBS. The JOBS Act of April 2012 has been good to the IPO market. Since April 25, 2012, the new-issues calendar has priced 100 IPOs. Their aftermarket performance has far outperformed the U.S. stock market’s major indexes.

 

Don’t believe the talk that the JOBS Act is slowing down the IPO traffic. It hasn’t. The numbers show the opposite. January 2013 was the busiest January in the last seven years. And February’s IPO market is looking to pick up where January left off.

 

This week’s calendar lists five IPOs expecting to raise over $2.3 billion. Next week lists another five IPOs aiming to raise over $1.1 billion. There is nothing beyond that, but don’t give up on February’s calendar. This is becoming the new way of life as the JOBS Act settles into place.

 

A private-equity sponsored company and a retread from a 10-year-old new-issues calendar pretty well sums up this week’s IPO action. That’s not much, but it is better than this time a year ago. Only one deal got priced during the shortened Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday week in 2012. Those Monday holidays can sure slow down IPO traffic.

 

The 2013 IPO Express is pulling into the Wall Street Station this week. The train is on time and in sync with past years – mid-January arrival – and this week’s theme is income. People are thirsty for yield.