The IPO Buzz: Nice Numbers

 
Since April 20, IPO buyers have made out much better than the underlying stock market. Consider this: Over that time span, 101 companies have gone public, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. As of Friday, Oct. 12, 72 closed above their initial offering prices, 29 did not, and the average gain for all 101 was 37.8 percent.
 
That’s three times better than the Nasdaq Composite Index. It posted an 11.1 percent gain.
 
On Oct. 12, the Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 2,805.85, up from 2,526.39 on April 20.
 
How’s Your Mandarin?
Among the 72 winners, some were huge.
 
If you think the Aug. 13 VMware (NYSE: VMW) IPO was first in the winner’s circle (up 255 percent from its initial offering price) -– think again. The sharpest was a small-cap deal that was priced two weeks ago, from China and traded on the American Stock Exchange. It was:
 
China Architectural Engineering (AMEX: RCH), up 395.7 percent from its initial offering price, was the “hands down” winner. On Sept. 27, bankers priced 737,000 shares of China Architectural at $3.50 per share. The IPO closed its opening day at $6, sold as high as $27.50 on Oct. 4, and closed on Friday, Oct. 12, at $17.35.
 
For that matter, five of the top six aftermarket performers among the last 101 IPOs were Chinese. Those front-runners were:
  • China Shenghuo Pharmaceutical Holdings (AMEX: KUN), priced at $3.50 per share on June 14, closed on Friday at $12.10 — up 245.7 percent. 
  • China Digital TV (NYSE: STV), priced at $16 per share on Oct. 4, closed on Friday at $49.31 — up 207.1 percent. 
  • Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE), priced at $11 per share on June 6, closed on Friday at $49.31 — up 193.6 percent. 
  • Wuxi Pharmatech (NYSE: WX), priced at $14 per share on Aug. 8, closed on Friday at $40 — up 185.7 percent. 
And guess what’s on this week’s IPO calendar?
 
Noah Education Holdings (NYSE: NED proposed), a provider of interactive educational content, in China.
 
Besides the trend of China’s flying US-offered IPOs, Noah’s numbers are flying, too.
 
For the year ending June 30, 3007, Noah reported net revenues of RMB555 million (US$72.9 million), UP 42.3 percent from RMB390 million for the same period a year ago.
 
For the year ending June 30, 3007, Noah reported net income of RMB46.1 million (US$6.1 million), UP 83.5 percent from RMB25.1 million for the same period a year ago.
 
And who remembers the last Chinese provider of educational content to go public in the United States? Let’s make it easy. It was New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE: EDU).
 
New Oriental priced its IPO at $15 per share on Sept. 6, 2006. It closed on Friday, Oct. 12, at $66.81 — UP 345.4 percent from its offering price.
 
And where does this leave Noah Education’s IPO?
 
We’ll find out soon enough.
 
Bankers plan to price 9.95 million shares of Noah at $9.80 to $11.80 each on Thursday evening for trading Friday morning -– assuming the terms aren’t increased.