As we prepare for barbecues and fireworks, the IPO market has been
celebrating beforehand. However, next week will only have a handful of IPOs
because of the Fourth of July holidays.
Keep an eye on Exfo. Based in Canada,
the company develops test equipment for the fiber industry. And, as everyone knows,
investors are enamored with anything related to fiber. The testing/monitoring market is
crucial. Mistakes can be costly for fiber companies.
But the company is not a concept firm. It has been profitable since the mid
1980s and has such great customers as AT&T, Bell Atlantic, Nortel, JDS
Uniphase, Lucent and US West.
Beacuse of the strong demand for the IPO, the price range was increased from
$20-$22 to $23-$25. The number of shares was also increased: going from 6
million shares to 7 million shares.
The lead underwriter is Merrill Lynch and the proposed ticker symbol is EXFO.
After much delay, divine interVentures is
expected to go public next
week. No, this is not an online religious site. Although, the firm has
probably been doing much praying lately. Divine interVentures is an
Internet incubator. Incubators finance and support small Internet companies
at the early stages. However, investors have soured on incubators (perhaps
the reason is that there are so many of them).
The lead underwriter is Robertson Stephens and the price range is $13-$15.
The proposed ticker symbol is DVIN.
Next, there is the Entegris IPO. The
company develops technologies
for quality assurance for disk manufacturers and semiconductor
manufacturers. The company is an innovator. For example, it
created the first perfluoroalkoxy (which is fusion-bonded piping and I’m not
sure what it means).
The lead underwriter is Merrill Lynch and the price range is $13-$15. The
proposed ticker symbol is ENTG.
In other words, don’t exect too much action for next week.