Investors got excited when MakeMyTrip (Nasdaq: MMYT) went public this summer. India's leading online travel website popped 89% on its first day of trading, making it the hottest IPO in nearly three years.

The stock kept going, fueled by hype that it would become India's Ctrip.com (Nasdaq: CTRP) -- the darling Chinese travel portal that has served investors well over the years. A month later, MakeMyTrip's shares were trading as high as $42.88. That's not too shabby for a stock that priced its IPO at only $14 a share back in August.

The highs wouldn't last. By the time MakeMyTrip posted quarterly results in November, it became apparent why underwriters had to settle for just $14 a share. Lousy margins, meager profitability, and uninspiring growth grounded overambitious expectations. MakeMyTrip's guidance of $58 million to $61 million in revenue after service costs for fiscal 2011 left everyone wondering why they bid this company's market cap up to roughly $1.5 billion two months earlier.

Cracked China
MakeMyTrip wasn't alone in this harsh revision. Many of China's hottest consumer-based debutantes have also surrendered gobs of their initial gains. Just look at these three recent casualties:

Company

Date

Offer

Peak

12/14/10

Youku.com (Nasdaq: YOKU) Dec. 8 $12.80 $50.00 $29.72
E-Commerce China Dang (Nasdaq: DANG) Dec. 7 $16.00 $34.46 $27.06
Country Style Cooking (Nasdaq: CCSC) Sept. 27 $16.50 $36.45 $25.28

Source: Hoover.

In all three cases, the prized brokerage clients who were able to get in on the IPOs are still sitting nicely. But plenty of poor saps found themselves chasing these speedsters, just as their wheels were about to come off.

This can happen fairly quickly. Youku's wild trip -- from a $12.80 IPO to its $50 high to last night's close below $30 -- has taken place in the span of only five trading days. Everyone piled on, hearing that Youku was China's YouTube. I seemed to be out of touch when I pointed out the video-sharing site's negative gross margins last week. I guess my concerns were just fashionably early.

Chinese e-tailer Dangdang.com and quick-service chain Country Style Cooking have healthier fundamentals. At least Dangdang is profitable, though not by much. Country Style Cooking has brighter near-term prospects, though it may have to grow into its current valuation.

Closer to home
You don't need to bring a passport to find combustible IPOs in action. SodaStream (Nasdaq: SODA) was a pop star when it went public at $20 last month. The real catalyst for this Israeli company's growth is the well-received rollout of its eco-friendly soft drink carbonation system in many leading stateside retailers. North American sales surged 245% in its latest quarter. In other words, it's not some intangible story stock. Investors can see it in action at a local retailer. 

The stock traded as high as $43.47 on the eve of Thanksgiving, but it's since lost a lot of that fizz, closing yesterday at $30.22.

Sometimes you have to go in reverse before going forward
There is good news for investors of those five stocks. If they're patient enough -- and the company lives up to the hype -- a quick rise and fall candidate can live to rise again.

Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA) captured the hearts and pocketbooks of both bulls and bears during it June debut.

The maker of electric cars went public at $17, but ardent speculators bid the stock up to more than $30 by its second day of trading. A week later, the bears had the wheel -- driving the stock back below its $17 offering price. It didn't remain a busted IPO for long, though, hitting a new high earlier this month.

The moral of the story is that volatility's only natural for heavily hyped story-stock debuts. Investors need to know what they're chasing. And sometimes, as we saw with Tesla, the best course of action is to let the euphoria play itself out and wait for an attractive entry point.

What's your favorite IPO of 2010? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.