So much has happened on the Internet stock and IPO scene in the first
six months of 1999, it’s hard to imagine the breakneck pace keeping up
in the latter half of the year.
But for good or bad, it will. The Internet IPO dam has burst, and even
the severe plunge in ‘Net stock prices in April and May failed to slow
the rush of companies eager to finance their businesses with public
stock offerings. The pipeline is full, and shows no sign of thinning.
There have been 103 Internet IPOs so far in ’99, and given the slow
start to the year, there should be even more in the next two quarters.
(In fact, four ‘Net companies already began trading on Thursday, the
first day of July.)
The number of ‘Net stock debuts has increased each month, with June now
topping the list:
Internet IPOs By Month
January – 4
February – 11
March – 13
April – 17
May – 26
June – 32
But June also now holds another record for the first two quarters:
Internet IPOs released that month had the worst debut performance, as
measured by the average percentage gain in the first-day closing price
over the offer price. Here are the percentages:
January – 241%
February – 122%
March – 134%
April – 116%
May – 59%
June – 48%
The fabled Internet “moonshots” – IPOs that soar on their opening day –
are becoming the exception rather than the rule.
In the first four months of the year, 28 of 45 Internet IPOs closed at
100% or more above the offer price on opening day. That’s 62%, or nearly
two out of every three Internet IPOs at least doubling in value in just
one day. No wonder everybody wanted a piece of the action.
In May and June, however, the moonshot rate dropped dramatically. Only
10 out of 58 ‘Net stocks, or a mere 17%, at least doubled in price on
their first day of trading.
Here are some other numbers from the first half:
10 Best Debuts of 1999
1. CBS MarketWatch.com (Jan. 15) – 474%
2. priceline.com (March 30): 331%
3. Healtheon (Feb. 11): 292%
4. Ariba (June 23): 291%
5. eToys (May 20): 283%
6. Log On America (April 22): 250%
7. iVillage (March 19): 234%
8. Rhythms NetConnections (April 7): 229%
9. TheStreet.com (May 11): 216%
10. Tut Systems (Jan. 29): 219%
Worst Debuts of 1999
1. US SEARCH Corp.com (June 25): 19%
2. Digital Lava (Feb. 17): 14%
3. ZipLink (May 26): 12%
4. Juno Online Services (May 26): 11%
5. COMPS.COM (May 5): 5%
6. Salon.com (June 22): 4.8%
7. Netivation.com (June 23): 4.7%
8. GenesisIntermedia.com (June 14): 1%
9.(t) fashionmall.com (May 21): 0%
Intelligent Life (May 13): 0%
Student Advantage (June 18): 0%
AppNet Systems (June 18): 0%
internet.com (June 25): 0%
Finally, here are the Internet IPOs from June and their first-day
performance (after the list are links to stories containing debut
percentages for all other ‘Net IPOs this year):
June 3 – iXL Enterprises: 49%
June 4 – Wit Capital Group: 65%
June 4 – Online Resources & Communications: 0.4%
June 4 – High Speed Access: 57%
June 4 – F5 Networks: 49%
June 7 – foreignTV.com: 4%
June 8 – drkoop.com: 83%
June 8 – BackWeb Technologies: 64%
June 9 – Litronic: 1%
June 11 – Phone.com: 151%
June 11 – onlinetradinginc.com: 48%
June 14 – GenesisIntermedia.com: -1%
June 18 – Viant: 52%
June 18 – Student Advantage: 0%
June 18 – Mail.com: 25%
June 18 – GoTo.com: 48%
June 18 – AppNet Systems: 0%
June 22 – Salon.com: -5%
June 22 – Ramp Networks: 52%
June 23 – Ariba: 291%
June 23 – Netivation.com: -5%
June 24 – Software.com: 20%
June 24 – CyberSource: 23%
June 24 – quepasa.com: 43%
June 25 – Juniper Networks: 188%
June 25 – internet.com: 0%
June 25 – US SEARCH Corp.com: -19%
June 25 – Persistence Software: 25%
June 25 – Stamps.com: 19%
June 29 – E-Loan: 164%
June 29 – nFront: 35%
June 29 – Digital Island: 19%
List of May
IPO debuts
List of January-AprilIPO debuts
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