There Is Life After the Facebook IPO

We're now two months removed from Facebook's (Nasdaq: FB  ) poorly received IPO, but there may finally be signs of life in the debutante pipeline.

After the ballyhooed social networking website operator crashed through the floor of its $39 IPO in May, many companies expecting to go public backed away. It was more than a month before a few companies dared to test the treacherous waters in late June.

July was quiet -- until late last week. A few companies successfully went public, and the results are refreshingly surprising.

Company	IPO	July 20, 2012	Gain
Kayak (Nasdaq: KYAK  )	$26	$33.18	28%
Palo Alto Networks (Nasdaq: PANW  )	$42	$53.13	27%
Durata Therapeutics (Nasdaq: DRTX  )	$9	$9.50	6%
Five Below (Nasdaq: FIVE  )	$17	$27.27	60%

Source: Hoover's.

Kayak is the company behind the popular travel website that checks several online portals and providers of airline flights, hotel stays, and other travel-related offerings to serve up the best deals.

Palo Alto Networks offers security services for networks.

Durata is a biotech with a potentially promising intravenous antibiotic for patients with skin infections that's in the critical third stage of clinical trials.

Five Below is a fast-growing thrift-store chain where every item is priced between $1 and $5.

The four companies went public during the last two trading days of last week, and all closed out the week higher than the offering prices that they settled for along the way. As long as the market holds up, this is the best sign in two months that the IPO market is ready to turn worthy companies into publicly traded ones.

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