Since the beginning of November 2013 through Friday, March 14, 2014, the average gain for all tech IPOs was 119.8 percent from their initial offering prices. But don’t get carried away in calling the sector a bubble. It isn’t here – yet.

 

Over the last three-plus months, the calendar has produced 92 IPOs, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Only four were technology IPOs. Nope – no tech bubble there.

 

Nevertheless, last Friday’s results helped the tech IPOs take off. Castlight Health (CSLT), a San Francisco-based provider of cloud-based software to manage healthcare costs, priced its IPO of 11.1 million shares on Thursday evening at $16 each. It closed on Friday at $39.80, UP 148.8 percent from its initial offering price.

 

With this in mind, let’s take a look at this week’s IPO calendar and its tech-laden offerings:

 

 

This brings us to the biotech/biopharma sector.

 

If you are looking for a bubble, this sector could be it. Since November, 29 of the 92 IPOs that have been priced were biotech/biopharma offerings. Their scorecard has been great. As of Friday’s close, 23 were in the winner’s circle, six were losers, and the average gain for all 29 was 71.9 percent. This week has three:

 

 

There are another five deals on next week’s IPO calendar. The headliner is King Digital Entertainment plc (KING – proposed) and its Candy Crush Saga game.

 

Stay tuned.

 

Castlight Health (CSLT – proposed), a San Francisco-based provider of cloud-based software to manage healthcare costs, tops this week’s IPO calendar.

 

Next week has Amber Road (AMBR – proposed), an East Rutherford, New Jersey-based provider of cloud-based global trade management solutions; Paylocity Holding (PCTY – proposed), an Arlington Heights, Illinois-based provider of cloud-based payroll and human capital management software solutions; and Q2 Holdings (QTWO – proposed), an Austin, Texas-based provider of secure cloud-based virtual banking solutions.

 

Two tech companies filed plans to go public last week:

Five9
 (FIVN – proposed), a San Ramon, California-based provider of cloud software for contact centers, and Opower
 (OPWR – proposed), an Arlington, Virginia-based provider of cloud-based software for the utility industry.

 

Since the Labor Day break in September, the IPO technology sector has been on fire. From Sept. 3, 2013, through March 7, 2014, the technology sector has priced 18 IPOs, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Seventeen were in the winner’s circle, one wasn’t, and the average gain for all 18 was 123.1 percent from their initial offering price. Additionally, 10 were up 100 percent or more.

 

The best performer was FireEye (FEYE), a Milpitas, California-based provider of virtual machine-based IT security software. On Sept. 19, 2013, the company priced its IPO at $20 per share. It closed its opening day at $36, and closed Friday at $81.64, UP 305.2 percent from its initial offering price.

 

Let’s take a look at the recent past. Last week’s calendar of Feb. 24, produced:

 

COUPONS.com (COUP), a Mountain View, California-based provider of digital coupons, priced its IPO of 10.5 million shares at $16 each, UP from 10 million shares at $13 to $14 each on Thursday evening, March 7. It closed Friday at $30, UP 87.5 percent from its initial offering price.

 

The previous week’s calendar of Feb. 17, produced:

Varonis Systems (VRNS), a New York City-based provider of a software platform that lets companies manage and protect their unstructured data, priced its IPO of 4.8 million shares at $22 each, UP from 4.8 million shares at $17 to $19 each on Thursday evening, Feb. 27. It closed Friday, Feb. 28, at $44, UP 100 percent from its initial offering price, and closed Friday, March 7, at $53.48, UP 143.1 percent from its offering price.

 

That brings us to this week and its IPO calendar. All told, there are five deals looking to raise about $450 million. Most of the dollar volume comes from two offerings. They are Castlight Health and Diamond S Shipping (DSG – proposed).

 

Castlight Health is a provider of cloud-based software that enables enterprises to gain control over their healthcare costs. Castlight’s Enterprise Healthcare Cloud allows customers to provide personalized, actionable information to their employees, implementing technology-enabled benefit designs and integrating disparate systems and applications. Formed in 2009, Castlight Health has about 287 employees.

 

Underwriters plan to offer 11.1 million shares of Castlght Health at $9 to $11 each to raise about $111 million. The IPO is expected to be priced Thursday evening and trade Friday morning on the New York Stock Exchange. The joint-lead managers are: Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. The co-managers are: Allen & Company, Stifel, Canaccord Genuity and Raymond James.

 

Diamond S Shipping Group is a Greenwich, Connecticut-based provider of seaborne transportation of refined petroleum and other products in the international shipping markets. The company operates a fleet 33 MR product tankers. Thirty are with 30 under-time charters; the remaining three operate in the spot market. Formed in 2007, Diamond S Shipping has about 29 employees.

 

Underwriters plan to offer 14 million shares of Diamond S Shipping at $14 to $16 each to raise about $210 million. The IPO is expected to be priced Tuesday evening and trade Wednesday morning on the New York Stock Exchange. The joint-lead managers are: Jefferies and BofA Merrill Lynch. The co-managers are: DNB Markets, HSBC, SEB, Global Hunter Securities, Fearnley Securities and Stifel.

 

There are only five deals on next week’s IPO calendar. Three cloud-based companies are on tap for the week of March 17, which happens to be St. Patrick’s Day. There’s still a lot of time to add more names early this week.

 

Stay tuned.

 

There’s more to the tech IPO world. At last count, well over a dozen tech IPOs were in the pipeline waiting for their turn on the calendar. This could usher in the “New Age of Tech IPOs.”

 

Varonis Systems (VRNS), a New York City-based provider of a software platform that lets companies manage and protect their unstructured data, priced its IPO of 4.8 million shares at $22 each on Thursday evening, Feb. 27, 2014. It closed its opening-day at $44 per share, UP 100 percent from its initial public offering price.

 

Nimble Storage (NMBL), a San Jose, California-based provider of information technology, hardware and software products for data storage, priced its IPO of 8 million shares at $21 each on Thursday evening, Dec. 12, 2013. It closed its opening day at $33.93, UP 61.6 percent from its initial offering price. On Friday, Feb. 28, 2014, Nimble closed at $48.10 per share, UP 128.6 percent from its initial public offering price.

 

COUPONS.com (COUP – proposed), a Mountain View, California-based provider of digital coupons, including online printable, social media, mobile and loyalty card promotions for more than 2,000 brands from more than 700 consumer package-goods companies, grocery, drug and mass merchandise retailers. For the three-month period ended Dec. 31, 2013, COUPONS.com reported net income of $1.5 million on revenues of $52.6 million, compared with a net loss of $9.1 million on revenues of $35.8 million for the same period a year ago. Founded in 1998, the company has about 469 employees.

 

Underwriters plan to offer 10 million shares of COUPONS.com at $12 to $14 each to raise about $130 million. The IPO is expected to be priced Thursday evening and trade Friday morning on the New York Stock Exchange. The joint-lead managers are Goldman Sachs, Allen & Company, BofA Merrill Lynch and RBC Capital Markets.

 

There are about 15 IPOs falling under the technology sector, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Among them are:

Under the April 2012 JOBS Act, a company can file to go public and be on the IPO calendar from within days to a few weeks.

This week includes an example of the lightning speed from the pipeline to the calendar:

 

Aquinox Pharmaceuticals (AQXP – proposed) filed to go public, planning to raise $57.5 million, on Jan. 28, 2014.

 

Fast forward: Friday, Feb. 28, Aquinox filed an amendment announcing its proposed pricing terms. The offering was on the IPO calendar expecting to be priced the following Thursday evening, March 6. That’s just five business days later.

 

Aquinox Pharmaceuticals is a Vancouver, British Columbia-based clinical-stage pharmaceutical company discovering and developing novel drug candidates to treat inflammation and cancer. The Canadian company’s leading drug candidate, AQX-1125, is being investigated in two Phase 2 clinical trials – one to evaluate its effectiveness in treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also known as COPD, and another to investigate its ability to reduce pain and urinary symptoms in bladder pain syndrome, also known as interstitial cystitis, a condition that mostly affects women. Founded in 2003, Aquinox has about 12 employees.

 

Underwriters plan to offer 3.7 million shares of Aquinox Pharmaceuticals at $10 to $12 each to raise about $40.7 million. The IPO is expected to be priced Thursday evening and trade Friday morning on the NASDAQ Global Market. The joint-lead managers are Jefferies and Cowen. The co-manager is Canaccord Genuity.

 

Looking into next week, the calendar has three IPOs. But more names could land on the IPO launching pad by the time that Monday, March 10, rolls around.

 

Stay tuned.

 

The advice around the betting window at the IPO Downs is: “If you don’t know the horse, bet on the jockey.” That applies to this week’s first IPO.

 

Lumenis (LMNS – proposed) is an Israeli-based provider of medical and aesthetic lasers and light-based technology. Lumenis plans to price 6.25 million shares at $15 to $17 each on Wednesday evening to trade Thursday morning on the NASDAQ Global Market. Founded in 1991, Lumenis has about 1,061 employees. For the year ended Dec. 31, 2013, Lumenis reported net income of $17.4 million on revenues of $265.4 million. The joint-lead managers are: Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Jefferies. The co-manager is: Wells Fargo Securities.

 

So far, so good.

 

But the last three medical equipment companies to go public stumbled on their first day on the IPO racetrack. (Note: All were priced over the last two weeks.) They were:

Opening-day results like these won’t make people run to the betting window with wads of cash.

 

Now let’s take a look at Lumenis’ jockey – or bookrunner. It is Goldman Sachs, the first name on the cover page of the prospectus.

 

Labor Day was just six months ago. Since then, 126 IPOs have been priced, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission files.(Note: This excludes unit offerings consisting of common stock and warrants, closed-end investment companies and American Depositary Shares being offered for the first time in the U.S. capital markets that represent shares already traded on the companies’ own national stock exchanges.)

 

Goldman Sachs was the bookrunner for 17 IPOs. Their opening-day results: 13 winners, three losers and one unchanged. Average gain for all 17 was 39.7 percent.

 

The rest of Wall Street: 73 winners, 29 losers and seven unchanged. Average gain for all 109 was 19.6 percent.

 

Put more simply, Goldman Sachs outperformed the Street by a ratio of about 2 to 1 in terms of average gain.

 

The buzz in recent weeks has centered around this theme: Technology IPOs are coming back in style. The second deal on this week’s IPO calendar is from the tech sector. It’s seen as the litmus test on how tech IPOs might fare in the near future.

 

Varonis Systems (VRNS – proposed) is a New York City-based provider of a software platform that lets companies manage and protect their unstructured data. This includes the user’s spreadsheets, word-processing documents, presentations, audio files, video files, emails, text messages and any other data created by employees. This data often contains the user’s financial information, product plans, strategic initiatives, intellectual property and numerous other forms of vital information.

 

Varonis plans to price 4.8 million shares at $17 to $19 each on Thursday evening to trade Friday morning on the NASDAQ Global Market. Founded in 2004, the company has about 573 employees. From the year ended Dec. 31, 2013, Varonis reported a net loss of $7.5 million on revenues of $74.6 million. The joint-lead managers are: Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital, Jefferies and RBC Capital Markets. The co-manager is: Needham.

 

It has been over two months since a tech IPO was priced.

 

Nimble Storage (NMBL) is a San Jose, California-based provider of a flash-optimized hybrid storage platform. Nimble priced its IPO of 8 million shares at $21 each on Dec. 12, 2013. The price was increased from its original filing of $16 to $18 per share. The IPO closed its opening day at $33.93, UP 61.6 percent from its initial offering price.

 

The bookrunner: Goldman Sachs.

 

For the last several weeks, the financial press has been reporting that exotic technology companies have filed confidential plans to go public under the JOBS Act. Among those mentioned were: GoPro, a San Mateo, California-based brand of high-definition personal cameras used in extreme action video photography, and PubMatic, a Redwood City, California-based online advertising company.

 

On a formal note, the SEC has jumped into the act. Last week, the SEC reported some noteworthy filings by technology IPOs. Among them were: 2U (TWOU – proposed) a Landover, Maryland-based provider of cloud-based software-as-a-service solutions that enable nonprofit colleges and universities to deliver education to students anywhere; A10 Networks (ATEN – proposed) a San Jose, California-based provider of advanced application networking technologies that let companies, service providers, Web giants and government organizations accelerate, secure and optimize the performance of their data center applications and networks, and King Digital Entertainment (KING – proposed), the Dublin, Ireland-based maker of Candy Crush Saga, a popular (some say, addictive)interactive smartphone game.

 

Interestingly enough, not one technology IPO has made its public debut this year – until this week. The whole world is watching to see how the Varonis deal works out. If it pops, then technology will be “in.”

 

Looking into next week, the calendar has one IPO. But more names could pop onto the IPO launching pad by the time that Monday, March 3, rolls around.

 

Stay tuned.