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Technology Stocks : IPOs: Too many, too fast, to little buyers? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mad2 who wrote (50)	12/3/2000 7:33:02 PM
From: RockyBalboa	Respond to of 84

Profitable Trio Poised for Wall St. Debut By Denise Duclaux NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three companies aiming for a public listing this week hope their profitability -- unusual for initial public offerings -- will lure investors shell-shocked by a dismal stock market. ``It is going to be a very light December, but one thing that has changed is the caliber of the deal,'' said Irv DeGraw, research director at WorldFinanceNet.com. This month will rank as the slowest December in more than six years for the initial public offering market, he predicted. Lab testing company Specialty Laboratories Inc., navigation device maker Garmin Ltd. and asset management firm W.P Stewart & Co. Inc. are tentatively slated to kick off the new month. All the companies tout profits -- an anomaly in a new-issues market dominated by start-ups that bleed red ink. ``I think profitability is really, really important,'' said Ward Morgenthau, senior vice president of sales at Laidlaw Global Securities. ``But I tend to think a lot of it depends on how the market will do (this) week. If you start draining the water out of the harbor, the ships are not going to float.'' Added Morganthau: ``Obviously I think an underwriter wants to step forward with his best shot, particularly since there are so many deals being withdrawn or going into the hole right away.'' Indeed, the fourth quarter is shaping up to be the weakest period of this year. Just 50 companies have gone public in the fourth quarter so far, less than half the number in each of the prior quarters this year, according to research firm Thomson Financial Securities Data. Nearly 60 percent of the new issues in the fourth quarter have sagged below their offering price, Thomson said. Initial public offerings have followed the downward spiral of the broader market. Year to date, the Nasdaq composite index (.IXIC) has tumbled 35 percent, the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) has slipped 9.8 percent, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index (.SPX) has slumped 10.5 percent. Specialty Laboratories, which develops and performs complex lab tests, rang in net income of $6.6 million on net revenues of $113.7 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30. The Santa Monica, Calif.-based company, which plans to trade under the symbol SP on the New York Stock Exchange, lost $2.4 million on net revenues of $96.7 million in the year-ago period. ``The leading deal is going to be Specialty Labs -- that's a top pick,'' DeGraw said. ``This is a very large company, a very substantial company.'' Garmin uses global positioning system technology to provide geographic location data through satellite communications. Its handheld and portable products are designed for use in wandering the outdoors and city streets. It landed net income of $78.1 million on net sales of $260.1 million for the nine months ended Sept. 23. The Cayman Islands-based company, which expects to trade under the symbol GRMN on Nasdaq, posted net income of $43.6 million on net sales of $164.5 million for the comparable year-ago period. ``This one is a definite sleeper, because the pre-offering demand is very, very mild,'' DeGraw said. ``But I happen to like them anyway regardless of what the demand is. The fundamentals are incredible.'' W.P. Stewart posted net income of $94.8 million on revenues of $193.3 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 1999. The Bermuda-based company, slated to trade under the symbol WPL on the New York Stock Exchange, recorded net income of $72.6 million on revenues of $152.3 million in 1998. ``I think there is going to be a return to fundamentals,'' DeGraw said. ``We will be scrambling to find those companies that have significant profitability as well as strong growth prospects. You better be making money if you want to do a deal next year.'' biz.yahoo.com

To: Mad2 who wrote (50)	12/28/2000 8:22:17 AM
From: RockyBalboa	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 84

Unnoticed from the public almost all of the recent IPOs did well in the aftermarket (they had no first day splash so noone found), but their performance since opening in December is good: CESI at 17, up from 13 (a spin off from catalytica which has been acquired) RECN at 19, up from the $12 IPO price and 13 opening. A business consultant, perhaps made to test waters for the big KCIN offering in 2001. GNVC a JPM Ipo but it is flat... maybe a sleeper. $9.5, cheap. Could rise with the rise of the "Genes". GEMP (Gemplus, an ADR offering situated in the tax haven of Luxembourg) at 17, up from 11. Wireless, wireless. HBIO is to forget so far. GRMN is interesting, it got quite a blurp but stays there, currently $18. TELN Telenor (the former Norvegian state monopoly bell) a rock solid company but, do we need more Telekom stocks? WP Stewart, an asset manager. Maintained but dependent on market developlents. Bermuda based.

To: Mad2 who wrote (50)	1/21/2001 5:01:56 PM
From: RockyBalboa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 84

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. See