Let’s take a quick look at the mid-year numbers. After all, isn’t that what Wall Street is all about?

 

Through Friday, June 28, 2013, a total of 91 IPOs had been priced during the year’s first half, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s filings. They raised $20 billion.

 

The Mid-Year IPO Scorecard read: 65 winners, 24 losers and two unchanged from their initial offering prices. The average gain for all 91 IPOs was 23.7 percent versus a 12.71 percent gain for the NASDAQ Composite Index at 2013’s mid-point.

 

That was a better showing than this time 52 weeks ago.

 

Through Friday, June 29, 2012, the IPO calendar had priced 74 IPOs during the year’s first half. They raised $28.5 billion.

 

The 2012 Mid-Year IPO Scorecard read: 47 winners, 26 losers and one unchanged. The average gain for all 74 IPOs was 14.06 percent versus a 12.66 percent gain for the NASDAQ Composite Index at 2012’s mid-point.

 

Worth noting: 2012’s dollar volume is misleading. It includes May 2012’s $16 billion FaceBook (FB) IPO. On May 17, 2012, FaceBook priced 421.2 million shares at $38 each. Facebook closed at $24.88 per share on Friday, June 28, 2013, DOWN 34.5 percent from its initial offering price.

 

(Note: These figures exclude unit offerings, bank conversions and foreign-based companies offering their shares in the U.S. capital markets for the first time.)

 

 

Last week was one to remember. It was big and it closed with a bang. Eleven IPOs made the leap from the calendar to getting priced. That was heavy IPO traffic in this day and age. As an example, one must look back five years and seven months to find a busier week. That was the week of Nov. 12, 2007, when that calendar priced 13 IPOs. But none of those were moonshots.

 

We had one last week.

 

Noodles & Company (NDLS), a Broomfield, Colorado-based operator of a chain of casual restaurants, priced 5.4 million shares at $18 each on Thursday evening, June 27. The stock opened at $32 Friday morning and closed its opening day at $36.75 – UP 104.2 percent from its initial offering price. It became the 249^th IPO to score an opening-day gain of 100 percent more since the October 1980 Genentech offering.

 

This brings us to the shortened holiday week. Most syndicate desks will be empty this week, when the U.S. stock market will be closed on Thursday, July 4^th, for the Independence Day holiday. The IPO calendar for the week of July 1 is clean and green – nothing. But don’t go away. Under the JOBS Act, things can heat up very quickly.

 

Stay tuned. 

 

 

The IPO market’s performance for the first six months of 2012 was not nearly as bad as some would have you believe. To get the real story, all you have to do is look at the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

 

From January through June, the new-issues calendar produced 74 IPOs, excluding unit offerings. They raised $28.4 billion. The Facebook (FB) IPO train wreck accounted for $16 billion of that total.

 

(As of June 29, 2012)

Priced: 74

Up: 47

Down: 26

Unchanged: 1

Percentage gain: 14.06 percent

Nasdaq Composite Index: Up 12.66 percent

 

Now let’s take a look at last year’s first half.

 

The 2011 calendar produced 76 IPOs, excluding unit offerings. They raised $26.1 billion.

 

(As of June 30, 2011)

Priced: 76

Up: 44

Down: 31

Unchanged: 1

Percentage gain: 14.98 percent

Nasdaq Composite Index: Up 4.55 percent

 

The 2012 comparison with last year is not too shabby. What hurt 2012’s IPO market was a dry spell that ran from May 11 through June 27. During that six-week period, one IPO got priced – Facebook – and three others were postponed.

 

Worth noting: The slowdown had nothing to do with the Facebook offering. The cause of a vanishing IPO market was “due to market conditions.”

 

Historical data shows that when the stock market sells off, IPO traffic dries up. That’s what happened during 2012’s first half. The Nasdaq Composite Index, the barometer of the IPO market, took a 10-week slide. From March 26 through June 1, the Nasdaq lost 12 percent. On March 26, the Nasdaq closed at its 2012 high at 3,122.57; on June 1, it closed at its recent closing low at 2,747.48. Then things got better. By June 29, the Nasdaq had recovered 6.83 percent to close at 2,935.05. And the IPO calendar came into play.

 

ServiceNow priced its IPO of 11.7 million shares at $18 each on Thursday evening, June 28. That was above its $15 to $17 per share. The deal closed Friday at $24.60, UP 36.7 percent from its initial offering price. ServiceNow is a San Diego, California-based provider of cloud-based services – a hot sector in 2012’s IPO market. There are more in the pipeline.

 

Cloud coming attractions:

But don’t expect anything to happen this week – nothing does during the July 4^th Holiday break.

 

Stay tuned.