After a year of rallying equity prices, the pipeline of new offerings is finally starting to gush.
More than a dozen companies have gone public on stateside exchanges over the past month. Whole quarters passed during the recessionary lull without this much activity. However, the biggest takeaway for investors -- and the most encouraging sign for companies waiting for their chance at bat -- is that most of the IPOs are going public successfully.
Many of the stocks that have debuted in recent weeks now trade higher than their offer prices. This makes it easier for underwriters to move future offerings, easing initial shareholders' fears that they'll be left holding the bag on post-IPO stinkers.
Let's review some of the biggest winners among the past month's market debutantes:
|
Stock |
Offer |
4/7/10 |
Gain |
|---|---|---|---|
|
China Lodging (Nasdaq: HTHT) |
$12.25 |
$16.75 |
37% |
|
Financial Engines (Nasdaq: FNGN) |
$12.00 |
$16.40 |
37% |
|
Primerica (NYSE: PRI) |
$15.00 |
$20.01 |
33% |
|
Meru Networks (Nasdaq: MERU) |
$15.00 |
$18.87 |
26% |
|
MaxLinear (NYSE: MXL) |
$14.00 |
$17.18 |
23% |
|
Calix (NYSE: CALX) |
$13.00 |
$14.03 |
8% |
|
AVEO Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: AVEO) |
$9.00 |
$9.39 |
4% |
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
The overall health of the recent IPO slate is no less encouraging than the diversity of its companies and their industries. Primerica is a financial services giant. China Lodging obviously deals in Chinese hospitality. Financial Engines is a retirement plan advisor and consultant. Meru specializes in wireless LAN networks.
As long as IPOs continue to perform reasonably well out of the gate -- and the general market holds up its end of the bargain -- the flow of new names for investors to choose from should continue to move along nicely.
