The IPO calendars have been on a starvation diet-lean and mean. Those IPOs
that have tried to buck the trend have had underwhelming acceptance in the
market, even after reducing their prices and the number of shares offered.
Yet, even with this on-again, off-again market, here are some IPOs that are
coming up. Actually, they look pretty good.
ibeam Broadcasting Corporation, located in Sunnyvale, CA, provides an
Internet broadcast network that delivers high quality video and audio
streams with viewing and listening quality that they say approaches
television and radio quality. Their network uses point-to-multipoint
satellite broadcasting located in the facilities of network providers,
hosting companies and Internet service providers, or ISPs.
NBC and Time Warner are some of their clients. Also, Intel and Microsoft
own almost a quarter of iBEAM.
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter is the lead underwriter. The ticker symbol is
IBEM and the price range is $9 to $11, down from its original $13 to $15
range.
The Santa Clara, CA, Nogatech provides compression chips that enable
real-time transmission of video, audio and data signals into personal
computers and personal digital assistants. They usually sell their chips on
a stand-alone basis to original equipment manufacturers. Last year, Fujitsu
General, Pinnacle Systems, and Sharp Electronics purchased their products.
Earlier this year, Nogatech and Fujitsu PC Corp. introduced the first
modular USB digital camera that can be stored and used through a notebook
computer. The optional modular USB digital camera is able to display video
as well as take still shots.
W.R. Hambrecht & Company is the lead underwriter. The proposed market
symbol is NGTC and the price range is $12 to $16.
Pixelworks designs system-on-a-chip integrated circuits (ICs) that enable
visual displays on electronic systems such as PCs and TVs. Its
ImageProcessor is used by such companies as Compaq and Sony. Pixelworks,
which outsources its manufacturing to Asia, has about 90% of its sales to
Asian customers.
Pixelworks won the 1999 SID Information Display Magazine Display Material or
Component of the Year (DMCY) Gold Award for their single-chip flat-panel
display controllers.
Salomon Smith Barney is the lead underwriter. The proposed ticker symbol is
PXLW and the price range is $12 to $14.
