Similar to last week, the coming days will see the debut of seven new stocks on the bourse. Dissimilar to last week, at least one will be a monster. The flotation of China-based e-tailer JD.com stands to take in a gross of nearly $1.7 billion if its American Depositary Shares sell at the upper end of their anticipated price range, while oil and gas concern Parsley Energy could reap as much as $790 million from its listing. So it looks like plenty of money will be floating around in the IPO space between now and the weekend.
We'll get to our selections in a moment, but first we need to issue our standard warning: IPO investing carries above-average risk, as initial stock prices can be far from the value the market eventually puts on the company's shares. This provides great upside potential, but it also carries the risk of losing the bulk of an investment.
OK, now onto the good stuff -- our selections for the week:
21st Century Oncology Holdings
Health care has been a hot sector in the IPO world recently, with the sector the clear No. 1 in terms of total IPOs so far this year. As its name implies, 21st Century Oncology Holdings' specialty is cancer treatment, and according to the company it runs the biggest integrated network of treatment centers and affiliated physicians in the country. All told, those doctors provide service to patients at around 376 locations. The company has posted losses in its recent history, although revenue is rising at an encouraging clip.
Slightly more than 13.3 million shares of 21st Century Oncology Holdings (ticker symbol ICC) will make their way to the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, priced at $14 to $16 per share. The lead underwriters of the issue are Morgan Stanley (MS +0.07%), JPMorgan Chase (JPM +0.19%) unit J.P. Morgan, and Wells Fargo (WFC 1.28%) Securities.
JD.com
Alibaba is the upcoming Chinese e-commerce IPO that hogs all the headlines, but its competitor JD.com's listing is also a big deal, tipping the scales at a weighty $1.7 billion or so. JD.com is a business-to-consumer website facilitating the sale of thousands of products. It says it controls over 46% of the direct sales market in China, which given the immensity of that market is no small feat. As is common for energetic young online businesses, the firm has grown its top line at a furious rate but posted consistent net losses.
JD.com's IPO is slated to take place on Thursday, with nearly 93.7 million American depositary shares coming to the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol JD. The ADSes are priced at $16 to $18 apiece, and the underwriting syndicate is led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and UBS (UBS 1.52%) Investment Bank.
Parsley Energy
One of the top energy plays in the U.S., the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, is where this petroleum exploration and production company has planted its stake. Parsley Energy launched its operations in mid-2008, and these days it has operator rights to 98 wells spread across the area. It owns or leases over 111,600 net acres, and its net average daily production figure for this past April came in at 12,852 barrels of oil equivalent. Like health care, energy has been a popular sector for IPOs so far in 2014.
Thursday is when Parsley Energy will make its market debut Friday on the NYSE. 43.9 million shares will be sold for $15 to $18 per share, and the stock's ticker symbol will be PE. Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs (GS 0.78%), J.P. Morgan, and Wells Fargo Securities are the issue's lead underwriters.
