Ek, do you know that freeshop.com is Seattle based? We got some Clic from Goldman. Watch it fly the day it comes out.
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New York, Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) - Up to 30 companies plan IPOs next week, including one that allows viewers to record TV programs without the ads. If all the sales happen, the week would be the busiest of the year.
TiVo Inc., which sells a subscription service that lets people tape TV programs to view when they want, plans to raise $66 million.
TiVo said the service costs $9.95 per month to $199 for a lifetime. It had 1,000 subscribers on June 30.
Foundry Networks Inc., which makes networking products that manage traffic at Web sites, wants to raise $75 million and FreeShop.com Inc., which manages free offers from major online marketers, plans to raise $32 million.
The busiest week this year for initial sales was the week of July 26, when 27 companies went public, said Rich Peterson, spokesman for Thompson Financial Securities Data Co.
With investors hungry for new issues, small stocks may be neglected, said Steven Disanctis, head of small-cap research at Prudential Securities.
Money ``managers now are not focused on their existing holdings or on small-cap issues, they're more focused on the IPOs,' he said.
Last Quarter Enthusiasm
The increase in IPOs comes after a lull of a few months for Internet IPOs, during which many companies postponed sales rather than brave a lackluster market.
In August, 22 IPOs were postponed, of which 7 were Internet IPOs. For the first time ever, four Internet IPOs declined from their offer price by the close of trade on their first day.
Now that enthusiasm has returned, many companies want to go public quickly before worries about the year-end computer bug escalate, Disanctis said.
Several IPOs this week doubled or tripled. Today, Alteon WebSystems Inc., which makes products that manage web traffic, almost quadrupled. Investors are favoring companies that make the equipment that runs the Internet and e-commerce -- such as marketing companies -- over companies that sell goods online.
Yesterday, EGain Communications Corp., which makes customer- service software for online companies, almost doubled and one Internet IPO, by retailer AshFord.com Inc., closed unchanged.
On Wednesday, E.piphany Inc. and Broadbase Software Inc., both of which make software that allows companies to analyze their customers' viewing and online habits, tripled and doubled respectively. Kana Communications, which makes software to manage large volumes of e-mail, more than tripled.
Internet and Technology
The continued strength of Internet and other high-technology IPOs will depend on the strength of the broader market for Internet and technology stocks, Disanctis said.
``If the market holds up, then we can see a lot of these deals get done ... but it all depends. If we see poor performance by the overall equity market, by the overall Internet stocks, then we may see a slowdown.'
Bloomberg's Index of U.S. Internet stocks is up 51 percent for the year, although it is down about 34 percent from its high.
The technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index yesterday suffered its worst slump in five months after Microsoft Corp. President Steven A. Ballmer said a ``gold rush' mentality had pushed technology stock prices above their worth. The index fell a further 0.3 percent today.
TiVo, based in Sunnyvale, California, plans to sell 5.5 million shares at $11 to $13 each. Foundry Networks, also based in Sunnyvale, plans to sell 5 million shares at $14 to $16 each. Seattle-based FreeShop.com expects to sell 3.2 million shares at $9 to $11 each. << |
