Mad2,
Usually the best time to apply for IPOs and to play them in the aftermarket (assumed that the markets should recover for some time now) is in the 'dawn' (or when the big depression is about to end), which is presently.
Most of the underwriters have likely decided to support their smallish offerings they do now and effectively give away some nickels to the street in order to reanimate the IPO market for the bigger issues.
3 Companies are supposed to hit the market, Peets (a starbucks competitor) and KREM comes to my mind, Xenogen, A Bio. and Align, well.
Story:
Sunday January 21, 4:01 pm Eastern Time
IPO Market to Open Without Fireworks
By Emma-Kate Symons
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The IPO market will awaken from its winter slumber with three new stock offerings this week. But don't expect the fireworks of 2000 when the shares of most technology companies soared on their first trading day.
``We're going to be looking at earnings,'' said Edmund Cashman, a senior executive vice president at brokerage firm Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc.
``Last year we were looking at enterprise value, which is air -- and now we're back to looking at the normal funds of investing related to profits.''
There is not one technology company set to debut this week despite a recent rally on Nasdaq.
Peet's Coffee and Tea Inc. is a gourmet coffee chain that competes with market leader Starbucks Corp. (NasdaqNM:SBUX - news); Xenogen is a biotechnology firm; and Align makes a teeth-straightening device.
The Nasdaq Composite index (.IXIC) -- a barometer for the technology-dominated initial public offering (IPO) market -- finished on Friday almost unchanged, but it was up 5.5 percent for the week and up 12.1 percent for the year following last year's 39 percent plunge.
Yet Nasdaq remains volatile and analysts say it will be months before the IPO market will experience a substantial revival, with investors once again willing to invest in new technology companies, rather than large mature businesses.
``We need some stabilization, the market still is a little ragged,'' Cashman said. ``But we're getting back to a more rational environment for the IPO market.''
PEET'S EXPECTED TO ENJOY HEALTHY DEBUT
``There are still companies willing to run the gauntlet, which is what it seems like these days especially with the stingy reception that they've gotten from investors,'' Hoover's Online editor Justin Burrows said.
Burrows says Peet's, which is being underwritten by W.R. Hambrecht & Co., is well-placed because it has former Starbucks executives on its management team.
``It's a safeguard (for the investor),'' Burrows said. ''Lineage counts for something.''
The Emeryville, Calif.-based company said in its filing with regulators that it specializes in roasted coffee but also sells tea in restaurants, stores and its own retail stores in four states, as well as online.
ATP Oil & Gas Corp. is scheduled to price later in January, with Lehman Bros as its underwriters.
KPMG Consulting Inc. is also slated to go public soon, although no debut time has been set.
One of the world's largest consulting firms, KPMG last week revised the price range on its IPO to $16-$18 a share from $6.75-$8.75, because of a reverse stock split.
But KPMG, whose IPO is being managed by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, said 112 million common shares were now being offered -- 29 million by KPMG Consulting and 83 million by its parent KPMG
Llg.
A previous SEC filing said that 354.6 million shares would be offered.
``KPMG is a name and the market may be willing to buy,'' Burrows said. ``It's not like people are going to walk away from the table but they make exact a lower price.''
Later in the year Verizon Wireless is planning a public offering in a deal that could be worth around $5 billion.
``There are big deals on the horizon so it's not dead but it may be a little bit boring,'' Burrows said.
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