150 initial public offerings have been priced so far this year as of Oct. 13, 2006.
Four IPOs were priced during the week of October 9th, 2006. As much as
nine deals are on deck for the next week hoping to raise nearly $900 million.
IPO PERFORMANCE
ADVANCERS:
Shares of
Science Applications International Corp. (
SAI: chart) rose 21% in their first day of trading Friday after pricing at the high end of an expected range.
In one of the largest IPOs of the current year, the company sold 75 million shares of common stock, which represent about 19% stake in the company. The shares were priced at $15, compared with the filing range of $13 - $15 per share.
The underwriters have an option to purchase up to 11.25 million additional shares to cover excess demand.
SAIC is a provider of scientific, engineering and technical services to the U.S. military and government agencies.
Morgan Stanley and Bear Stearns were the lead underwriters on the deal.
SAIC’s shares opened at $17 and closed at $18.18 a share, up 21% from the IPO price.
Also on Friday, the online health insurer
eHealth Inc. (
EHTH: chart) rose as much as 79% after pricing above a forecast range. The deal was worth $70 million.
The company offered 5 million shares priced at $14, compared with the expected range of $10 - $12 per share.
eHealth follows the succesful first-day performance of recently launched IPOs by tech companies, such as
Riverbed Technology (
RVBD: chart),
CommVault Systems (
CVLT: chart) and
DivX Inc. (
DIVX: chart).
In addition, eHealth has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to 750,000 additional shares.
Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch were the lead underwriters for the offering.
The company’s shares opened well above at $25 and ended the first day at $22.90 per share, up 63% from the IPO price.
Another company that made good impression on Friday was
Acme Packet Inc. (
APKT: chart). The computer networking equipment maker on Thursday raised $109 million with an IPO that priced above a forecast range.
The offering of 11.47 million shares, which represents a 20% stake in the company, was priced at $9.50 per share, above the expected range of $8 - $9 per share. The original range of $6.50 - $7.50 a share was lifted earlier on Thursday.
Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, and ThinkEquity Partners managed the deal.
In addition, the company has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to 1.7 million shares to cover over-allotments.
