Category Archives: The IPO Buzz

 

Thanksgiving turkeys arrived early on Wall Street as four IPOs laid eggs in last week’s new-issues market. This holiday-shortened week has just two deals on the calendar. Investment professionals expect a sleepy time in the Land of IPOs.

 

Out of the smoke that engulfed the world’s securities markets last week comes this week’s IPO calendar. It has nine offerings that aim to raise $1.5 billion – the busiest week since December 2010.

 

 

November’s IPO market opened with a pop and two flops. What’s more, the first week of November included eight companies unveiling proposed IPO pricing terms and six jumping onto the new-issues calendar. That’s not too shabby.

 

 

The IPO market blows into town this week like a three-ring circus. The calendar has four deals looking to raise over $1 billion – yes, one billion dollars – and the headliner is the much hyped Groupon IPO.

 

Groupon’s IPO filing roared out of the SEC filing window like thunder last Friday and negated a recent media blitz of misinformation. 

 

When Ubiquiti Networks (UBNT) made its debut on Friday, Oct. 14^th, the curtain finally went up on the post-Labor Day IPO season. The IPO was the first one priced since mid-August. The deal was a mixed blessing. The offering failed to raise the amount the company that the company had hoped for, but investors got an unexpected windfall profit.

 

For the first time since mid-August, the IPO calendar has a company scheduled to go public. And there’ll be 210 pairs of eyes watching the outcome.

 

Some things are best left in the rear-view mirror. That’s the best thing that can be said about the third quarter of 2011. By the end of September, most of the world’s stock indexes were close to the sharp claws of a bear market, which is a 20 percent drop from a previous high. When things like this happen, IPOs generally go into hibernation — except for last week.

 

Will Rogers was fond of saying, “All I know is what I read in the papers.” He didn’t have the Internet to check fiction versus fact. This past week, we were subjected to an IPO media blitz about Groupon and Facebook. In the jaded eye of the Wall Street professional, it was fiction.