Finally, we’ll see some juicy IPOs this week. Of course, a good number
are Net-related.
Expect Turnstone Systems to turn heads on Wall Street. The company is
at the cutting-edge of loop-management technology. This is a fancy way of
saying that the company allows local exchange carriers to deploy DSL
(digital subscriber line), so as to make Net access superfast.
Turnstone’s product is called CX100 and for the first nine months of 1999, the
product has generated $14.7 million in sales.
The lead underwriter is Goldman Sachs and the proposed ticker symbol is
TSTN. The price range is $15-$17.
Also on the calendar is Extensity. Besides having a cool name, this
company also has a cool product line — a suite of applications that
automate corporate functions, such as billable-time, procurement, travel
management, and so on. The company has licensed its products to 58
customers since 1998, such as Cisco, Clarify, AirTouch, Home Box Office and Sara Lee.
Interestingly enough, International Data Corp. projects the market
for workplace management applications to grow from $766 million in 1998
to
$4 billion in 2003.
The lead underwriter is Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. The price range is
$14-$16 (boosted from $8-$10).
724 Solutions looks promising. The company provides back-end solutions
for
the financial industry. The focus of 724 Solutions is leveraging
wireless
devices (digital mobile phones, personal digital assistants, and two-way
pagers). Such companies as Bank of America, Citigroup and the Bank of
Montreal are implementing the technologies (the customer base of these
companies is in excess of 137 million).
The lead underwriter is CS First Boston and the price range is $11-$13. The proposed ticker symbol is SVNX.
Finally, L90 should have a strong showing. The company provides clients
with extensive consulting services for online advertising and direct
marketing. The company bills itself as “going beyond the banner.” Although, L90 also has its own core technology, called adMonitor, which is a full-featured system for tracking the results of advertising campaigns. Customers include Hollywood.com, Liquid Audio and Alloy Online.
The lead underwriter is SG Cowen and the proposed ticker symbol is LNTY. The price range is $10-$12.
Final Note
The first IPO of the millennium was Talisman Enterprises.
Unfortunately, it fell on its first day – over 11 percent. Then again it was a small
deal (900,000 shares at $5 each) and there was a small underwriter (Capital
West Securities).
