September was a schizophrenic month for Internet IPOs. After nearly two weeks of total inactivity, Internet IPOs flooded the
market in the latter half of the month. By the time the smoke cleared,
September was tied with August and May for the third-highest number of
Internet IPOs in 1999.
More significantly, the average first-day performance of ‘Net IPOs in
September was considerably higher than August’s average. Relative to the
average offer price, September’s new Internet stocks finished their
respective opening days of trading up 72%, compared to the 45% average
first-day gain in August, still the lowest monthly average of the year.
Two ‘Net IPOs had monster debuts – infrastructure hardware provider
Alteon WebSystems and e-mail outsourcing and software company Kana
Communications.
Offering 4 million shares at $19 each, Alteon closed on Sept. 24 at
$74.94, a 294% gain that gives ATON the fourth-best debut of 1999.
Kana, meanwhile, now owns the 10th-best debut, closing on Sept. 22 at
$51.50 after offering 3.3 million shares at $15 each.
Only one company had a disastrous opening – sweepstakes Web site
Webstakes.com, which finished its first day of trading on Sept. 24.
Let’s look at the year so far:
Internet IPOs By Month
January – 4
February – 11
March – 13
April – 17
May – 26
June – 32
July – 35
August – 26
September – 26
Total – 190
Average First-Day Return By Month In 1999
January – 241%
February – 122%
March – 134%
April – 116%
May – 59%
June – 48%
July – 74%
August – 45%
September – 72%
10 Best Debuts of 1999
1. CBS MarketWatch.com (MKTW) (Jan. 15) – 474%
2. Ask Jeeves (ASKJ) (July 1) – 364%
3. priceline.com (PCLN) (March 30) – 331%
4. Alteon WebSystems (Sept. 24) – 294%
5. Healtheon (HLTH) (Feb. 11) – 292%
6. Ariba (HLTH) (June 23) – 291%
7. eToys (ETYS) (May 20) – 283%
8. Red Hat (RHAT) (Aug. 11) – 272%
9. Log On America (April 22) – 250%
10. Kana Communications (Sept. 22) – 243%
10 Worst Debuts of 1999
1. The Cobalt Group (Aug. 5), -24%
2. US SEARCH.com Corp. (June 25), -19%
3. BigStar Entertainment (Aug. 3), -18%
4. Webstakes.com (Sept. 24), -18%
5. Quotesmith.com (Aug. 3), -14%
6. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM (Aug. 3), -13%
7. Digital Lava (Feb. 17), -13%
8. ZipLink (May 26), -12%
9. Juno Online Services (May 26), -11%
10. Mortgage.com (Aug. 11), -11%
Here are the Internet IPOs from September and their first-day
performances (following the list are links to stories containing debut
percentages for all other ‘Net IPOs this year):
Sept. 14 – PurchasePro.com (PPRO), 118%
Sept. 16 – Luminant Worldwide (LUMT), 47%
Sept. 16 – Garden.com (GDEN), 59%
Sept. 22 – Kana Communications (KANA), 243%
Sept. 22 – E.piphany (EPNY), 182%
Sept. 22 – Broadbase Software (BBSW), 95%
Sept. 23 – yesmail.com (YESM), 19%
Sept. 23 – eGain Communications (EGAN), 92%
Sept. 23 – Cybergold (CGLD), 33%
Sept. 23 – Ashford.com (ASFD), 0%
Sept. 24 – Webstakes.com (IWIN), -18%
Sept. 24 – NetZero (NZRO), 82%
Sept. 24 – Bluestone Software (BLSW), 25%
Sept. 24 – Alteon WebSystems (ATON), 294%
Sept. 24 – Keynote Systems (KEYN), 95%
Sept. 28 – Medscape (MSCP), 73%
Sept. 28 – FreeShop.com (FSHP), 13%
Sept. 28 – ITXC (ITXC), 135%
Sept. 29 – perfumania.com (PF), -4%
Sept. 29 – ftd.com (EFTD), 8%
Sept. 29 – Telemate.Net Software (TMNT), 1%
Sept. 29 – ShopNow.com (SPNW), 6%
Sept. 29 – NetSolve (NTSL), 46%
Sept. 29 – InterNAP Network Services (INAP), 165%
Sept. 30 – RADWARE (RDWR), 53%
Sept. 30 – Loislaw.com (LOIS), 4%
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