Category Archives: The IPO Buzz

Bankers gave IPO investors a dose of what appeared to be a “back-to-the-future” IPO when they priced a money-losing company last week. Comverge (NASDAQ: COMV) popped for a surprising opening-day gain of 23.9 percent. 

When Veraz Networks (NASDAQ: VRAZ) priced its IPO below its original filing range last week, it underscored the saying: “Cut a deal, cancel my order.”

 

Enough companies jumped on last week’s IPO bandwagon to push 2007’s first quarter past the year-ago numbers. In the process, it made this year’s first quarter the best Q1 since the wild and woolly days of 2000 during the “insanity dot-com” era.

 

The message from the corner of Broad and Wall Streets last week was clear: “IPOs are back in town.”

Last week’s IPO traffic underscored what everybody already knew – earnings are “in” and China is “out.”

Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) came to Wall Street last week. It was surrounded with a lot of buzz and many were yelling: “Buy!” “Buy!” “Buy!” The IPO was priced at $25 per share, opened at $27.25 and sank. By the end of the week, it was “bye, bye.”

There were two stories out of China last week. One turned your stomach. The other could be an eye opener.

The IPO calendar has always had a three-week window. It consists of last week, this week and next. Beyond that, bankers keep the pricing dates close to their vests.

In case anybody noticed, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s filing window was a busy place last week. Six IPOs were priced, seven deals posted proposed pricing terms and 16 companies filed plans to go public.

Last week’s IPO market had its share of thrills and spills among the 14 new issues that made their debuts. Of the bookend deals — the best and the worst –- each traded on the New York Stock Exchange and each had Goldman Sachs’ name on the prestigious left-hand side of their prospectuses.