Welcome back to Baby Breakerdom! This week's quest to find budding Rule Breakers finds proof that there's still big money in deep tech, that taking the long view can be very profitable, and that there are two more Baby Breaker IPOs.
We begin this week with a technology called Web services and a company called Bowstreet. Simply put, a Web service is an application that exposes itself -- in a wholesome and useful way -- over the World Wide Web. The purpose, typically, is to exchange data with other applications to provide a collection of results. Think of shopping sites such as Google's
Bowstreet knew this idea was big stuff back when the company was founded in 1998. But the bursting of the tech bubble did more than its share of damage to the company. Last October, it was forced to recapitalize with a $7.6 million round of funding, after burning completely through some 170 employees and $145 million in capital.
The technology that drives Bowstreet, however, has persisted. And IBM
Next up is CorSolutions Medical, which 11 years ago began developing interactive websites to help chronically ill patients manage their health care. The company has struggled throughout the ups and downs of the medical IT market -- till last week, that is. Matria Healthcare
It's a nice ending for a deserving, patient company. But it's also a good outcome for the investors, including HLM Venture Partners, Hillman Medical, CB Health Ventures, and Humana Venture Capital. VentureWire reports that these and others had invested roughly $70 million in the company over the past decade. HLM, in particular, owns 7% of CorSolutions, making its payout $31.2 million. Assuming its initial investment was no more than $10 million, HLM scored a 212% return over as many as 11 years.
Is it any wonder that chief rebel and Fool co-founder David Gardner advises investors to think in terms of decades instead of years?
And in Baby Breaker public offerings:
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Pixelplus
(NASDAQ:PXPL) , a South Korean maker of chips for camera phones, launched its shares Wednesday at $8 per stub, well below initial projections of $12.50 to $14.50 per share, according to Reuters. That closely follows similarly lowered projections for Flash-memory chip maker Spansion(NASDAQ:SPSN) , which made its debut last Friday at a relatively meek $12 per share. Fortunately, it's up nearly 17% since. -
NUCRYST Pharmaceuticals
(NASDAQ:NCST) , a spinoff of Westaim that uses silver-laden wound care products to ward off infections, made its appearance Thursday at $10 per share. That, too, was below initial forecasts of $12 to $14 per share, according to Reuters. The stock ended the trading day unchanged at $10 and is up just five cents higher as of this writing.
That's all for this week, which means it's time to say good-bye, and I hope you're having a happy holiday season. This column will be back on Jan. 6. Till then, let's keep vigilant in our quest to find the next ultimate growth stock.
For more Rule-Breaking Foolishness:
- Did you catch last week's cast of Baby Breakers?
- Fat is where it's at when it comes to Rule Breakers.
- Does Howard Stern's last terrestrial breath signal multibagger returns for Sirius
(NASDAQ:SIRI) investors?
Netflix. Marvel. AOL. Starbucks. Find out how David Gardner landed these and other multibaggers when you take a risk-free trial to Motley Fool Rule Breakers today. You'll also learn why our analysts are smashing the market by more than 14% as of this writing. Or simply sign up now and receiveStocks 2006, our analysts' best picks for the year ahead, free. All you have to lose is the prospect ofbetter returns.
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Fool contributor Tim Beyers can say officially that he's never, ever had a real suntan. Really. Tim didn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story at the time of publication. You can find out what is in his portfolio by checking Tim's Fool profile . The Motley Fool has an ironclad disclosure policy .