Net IPOs Line Up for Next Week
by Craig Bicknell
2:30 p.m. 23.Apr.99.PDT
With last Monday's nasty market slide
slipping from memory, a slew of Net firms
is queuing up to go public next week.
"You got a pretty good mix of companies
getting ready to go," said Steven Tuen,
an analyst at IPO Value Monitor. "It looks
like the week's going to be on the heavy
side" for IPOs.
While the long-term outlooks of the
debuting companies vary widely, analysts
expect first day fireworks from every one.
"Investors are so in love with technology
stocks," said Tuen.
That love could lead them astray.
"All these stocks are big gambles," said
Kathy Smith, portfolio manager for the
Renaissance IPO Fund. "There's going to
be a rocky road ahead for all of them."
While Net stocks routinely soar in first
day trading, they often plummet
thereafter.
Disclaimers aside, next week's superstar
may be Marimba, which hopes to raise up
to US$69 million in a 4-million-share
offering.
Much hyped in 1996 as a
paradigm-busting, "push"-media Goliath,
Marimba has since settled on selling
software that lets big companies
distribute and manage software through
the Web. It's a nice niche that Marimba
largely controls, analysts said.
"There's a whole lot of interest in
Marimba," said Kathy Smith, portfolio
manager of the Renaissance IPO Fund.
The company has a tangible product and
revenue, and it's got CEO Kim Polese, a
popular executive in Silicon Valley. Still,
Marimba isn't making money. It had a loss
of about $6 million on revenues of $17
million in 1998.
Regards
Neil |
