There are 13 IPOs on this week’s calendar. They are looking to raise about $1.8 billion. The word out is there to expect an avalanche of filings to fill out the rest of November’s calendar.
Last November produced 30 IPOs, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. That was a touch above “average” for November. The traffic has averaged 29 IPOs per November dating back to 1970. If everything gets out the door this week, we’ll be almost halfway to the “average” and have another three weeks to go – all thanks to the sharp turnaround in the U.S. stock market.
The stock market started its downward slide beginning in mid-September, when it was then at its high. The Nasdaq Composite led the pullback. It fell 8.92 percent by mid-October, just short of the 10 percent mark needed to call a selloff a “correction.” Then prices reversed themselves with the Nasdaq Composite leading the way. It gained 9.79 percent from its previous low set two weeks ago. On Friday, Oct. 31, the Nasdaq closed at its highest level since March 2000.
There was some kerosene tossed on the stock market last week:
*On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced it voted to end its bond-buying stimulus program. That removed all uncertainty about when the end of the “easy money” stimulus was coming. Wall Street hates uncertainty.
*On Thursday, the third-quarter gross domestic product was reported to be growing at an annual rate of 3.5 percent, better than the expected rate of 3.2 percent.
*On Friday, the Bank of Japan surprised financial markets with an unexpected announcement that it was expanding its program of quantitative easing.
Hello, new closing highs. For Wall Street, it was indeed a happy Halloween.
This brings us into November and a busy IPO calendar of 13 deals.
The “picks of the week,” according to experts, are Antero Midstream Partners LP (AM – proposed) and Upland Software (UPLD – proposed).
So Proudly We Shale
Antero Midstream Partners is a Denver-based growth-oriented limited partnership formed by Antero Resources Corporation to own, operate and develop midstream energy assets to service Antero’s rapidly increasing production. The company’s assets are located in the developing liquids-rich southwestern core of the Marcellus Shale in northwestern West Virginia and the liquids-rich core of the Utica Shale in southern Ohio, two of the premier North American shale plays. The partnership plans to pay a quarterly cash distribution amounting to 68 cents annually to yield 3.4 percent at the mid-point of its offering price.
The deal is expected to be priced Tuesday evening to trade Wednesday morning
Cloud in the Heart of Texas
Upland Software is an Austin, Texas-based provider of cloud-based enterprise work management software. Its applications are used for the information technology, marketing, finance, professional services and process excellence functions within organizations. The company’s software helps its customers to better optimize the allocation and use of their people, time and money.
The deal is expected to be priced Wednesday evening to trade Thursday morning
Rx for the Future
There are a couple of other deals that the IPO experts are said to be eyeing: Coherus BioSciences (CHRS – proposed) and INC Research Holdings (INCR – proposed).
Coherus BioSciences is a Redwood City, California-based late-stage clinical biologics platform company focused on the global biosimilar market. The sector is said to be hot. The company has advanced one product candidate into Phase 3 clinical development and moved two others into or through Phase 1 clinical development. The company aims to develop anti-inflammatory treatments for chronic plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases. Coherus has entered into partnerships with two global pharmaceutical companies – Baxter International and Daiichi Sankyo Company.
The deal is expected to be priced Wednesday evening to trade Thursday morning
INC Research Holdings is a Raleigh, North Carolina-based Contract Research Organization focusing exclusively on Phase I to Phase IV clinical development services for the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries. The company provides its customers with highly differentiated therapeutic alignment and expertise, with a particular strength in cancer, central nervous system conditions and other complex diseases.
The deal is expected to be priced Thursday evening to trade Friday morning.
Looking into the week of Nov. 10, 2014, the calendar has three deals with bankers planning to raise over $1 billion. But more names could pop onto the calendar by the time that Monday, Nov. 10, rolls around. Consider this: This time last week, the IPO calendar for the week of Nov. 3 had three deals looking to raise about $315 million. Now it has 13 IPOs looking to raise about $1.8 billion.
Stay tuned.
Disclosure: Neither the author nor anyone else on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned, nor do we trade or invest in IPOs. The author and IPOScoop.com staff do not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.