The IPO Buzz: Spotlight on Specialty Tech

Consider this trend.

 

Renren (RENN), called China’s Facebook, made its debut with an opening-day gain of 28.6 percent. On May 3, the company priced 53.1 million shares at $14 each. The IPO sold as high as $24 per share and closed at $18.01 on May 4, its first day of trading.

 

(Note: Renren closed on Friday, June 6, at $12.69, down 9.36 percent from its initial public offering price due in part to concerns over accounting practices in China.)

 

LinkedIn (LNKD), a social-networking company, made its debut with an opening-day moonshot. It gained 109.4 percent. On May 18, the company priced 7.8 million shares at $45. In its debut on May 19, its IPO hit a high of $122.70 per share. It closed on its first day at $94.25.

 

Yandex (YNDX), called Russia’s Google (GOOG), made its debut with an opening-day gain of 55.4 percent. On May 23, the company priced 52.2 million shares at $25 each. On May 24, its IPO hit a high of $42.01 per share and closed at $38.84 on its first day of trading.

 

Groupon (GRPN – proposed), an online coupon distributor, filed on Thursday, June 2^nd, for an IPO to raise $750 million. The Wall Street IPO handicappers are said to be looking for big things when the IPO starts trading at a date to be determined.

 

Talk has it that Zynga Game Network, the world’s largest social game developer, will file for an IPO any day.

 

And the beat goes on, with people scanning the horizon for Facebook and Twitter to file for their IPOs sometime in the future.

 

This parade of names has fanned the flames of speculation that another Internet dot-com bubble is in the making. In reality, it is a little too soon to label today’s IPO market a “bubble.” Three, four or five IPOs no more make a bubble than three, four or five swallows returning to Mission San Juan Capistrano make springtime.

 

Today’s traffic is not there — yet.

 

Nevertheless, this sets the stage for this week’s IPO calendar. There are two deals on it. And guess what? One is a specialty technology company. The other is out of China.

 

 

Fusion-io is a Salt Lake City-based provider of a next- generation storage memory platform for data decentralization. Founded in 2005, Fusion-io has about 395 employees. The company reported a net loss of $13.8 million on revenues of $136.4 million for the 12 months ended March 31, 2011.

 

Fusion-io plans to offer 12.3 million shares at $13 to $15 each to raise about $172.2 million.

 

The IPO is expected to be priced Wednesday evening, June 8, and to trade on Thursday morning, June 9, on the New York Stock Exchange under the proposed symbol “FIO.” Joint-lead managers are: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Credit Suisse.

 

(Note: The company plans to offer 10.8 million shares and selling shareholders plan to offer 1.5 million shares.)

 

 

Taomee Holdings is a Shanghai-based provider of entertainment experiences for children that are fun, safe and trusted by parents. Founded in 2007, the company has about 467 employees. Taomee Holdings reported net income of $26.6 million on revenues of $41.9 million for the 12 months ended March 31, 2011.  

 

Taomee Holdings plans to offer 7.2 million shares at $9 to $11 each to raise about $71.9 million.

 

The IPO is expected to be priced Wednesday evening, June 8, and to trade on Thursday morning, June 9, on the New York Stock Exchange under the proposed symbol “TAOM.” Joint-lead managers are: Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank Securities.

 

(Note: The company is selling all the shares in the offering.)

 

Obviously, it is a two-horse race for “pick-of-the-week” honors, but there are some numbers buried in Fusion-io’s prospectus (page 46) that could make this call easier.

 

For the quarter ended March 31, 2011, Fusion-io reported net income of $13.4 million on revenues of $67.3 million, compared with a net loss of $6.7 million on revenues of $7 million for the same period a year ago.

 

Next week’s calendar features another specialty technology IPO.

 

It is Pandora Media. The company believes it is the leading Internet radio provider in the United States.

 

Stay tuned.