Internet IPOs Begin Year With A Blast

The Internet IPO floodgates opened in February, with 27 Net companies
going public after a quiet January.

The low number (five) of Internet IPOs in January was no surprise; it’s
traditionally a slower month for new offerings. But February was far
busier than the same month a year ago, when only 11 Internet tickers
debuted.

Unlike last summer, however, when excess supply of Internet IPOs drove
down first-day performances, the 27 February offerings posted an average
first-day gain of 126 percent, better than the 122 percent average gain in February
1999.

Eight of the 32 Internet IPOs this year have at least tripled in price
in their respective first days on the ticker — that’s one out of four.
Conversely, only three failed to gain any altitude.

The most eye-catching opener came from webMethods, which makes B2B
software using Extensible Markup Language, or XML, a technology that
some people believe will be the next Linux.

Early last month I had predicted a huge debut for webMethods (“don’t be
surprised by an opening-day gain of 300 percent or more”). I thought I was
being bold, but WEBM’s 508 percent increase made my forecast appear pretty
timid. It also may not be matched by another Internet company this year.
In fact, webMethods’ rocket blast topped all 258 Internet IPOs from last
year.

Here’s how things looks so far compared to 1999:

Average First-Day Return (By Month)

10 Best Internet Debuts of 2000

10 Worst Internet Debuts of 2000

Here are all of the Internet IPOs from January and February, along with
their first-day performances:

• Jan. 24 – Neoforma.com(NEOF),
  303%

• Jan. 26 – HealthGate Data(HGAT),
  7%

• Jan. 27 — Extensity(EXTN),
  256%

• Jan. 28 – L90(LNTY),
  57%

• Jan. 28 – 724 Solutions(SVNX),
  176%

• Feb. 1 — SkillSoft(SKIL),
  29%

• Feb. 3 – Centra Software(CTRA),
  138%

• Feb. 4 – eMerge Interactive(EMRG),
  215%

• Feb. 4 — FirePond(FIRE)356%
• Feb. 4 – WorldQuest Networks(WQNI),
  111%

• Feb. 8 – BUY.COM(BUYX),
  93%

• Feb. 8 — FASTNET(FSST),
  39%

• Feb. 9 — Vicinity(VCNT),
  187%

• Feb. 9 – Delano Technology(DTEC),
  181%

• Feb. 10 – Xcare.net(XCAR),
  74%

• Feb. 10 — Organic(OGNC),
  100%

• Feb. 11 — webMethods(WEBM),
  508%

• Feb. 11 – VIA NET.WORKS(VNWI),
  137%

• Feb. 11 – Pets.com(IPET),
  0%

• Feb. 11 — Lante(LNTE),
  175%

• Feb. 15 – b2bstores.com(BTBC),
  2%

• Feb. 15 – VarsityBooks.com(VSTY),
  -1%

• Feb. 15 – Sunhawk.com(SNHK),
  54%

• Feb. 15 – SAVVIS Communications(SVVS),
  0%

• Feb. 16 – Lending Tree(TREE),
  50%

• Feb. 18 — eSafetyworld(SFTY),
  6%

• Feb. 18 — Inforte(INFT),
  128%

• Feb. 18 – GigaMedia(GIGM),
  226%

• Feb. 25 – Hotel Reservations Network(ROOM),
  63%

• Feb. 25 — DigitalThink(DTHK),
  107%

• Feb. 29 – net.Genesis(NTGX),
  216%

• Feb. 29 – Avenue A(AVEA),
  200%