The Nasdaq Composite Index closed that day, 19 months ago, at 1,946.51. It was to bottom out at 1,114.11 on Oct. 9, 2002. Since then, the Nasdaq has recovered to its closing high set on July 14, 2003, at 1,754.82. But it is still down 9.8 percent from its close on Dec. 13, 2001.

In the background, the IPO market has been simmering. It has been finger-licking good.

Let’s take a look at the scorecard for the last 100 IPOs: At Friday’s close on July 18, 2003, 71 IPOs finished above their initial offering prices and the average gain for all 100 IPOs was up 31.6 percent each. Over that same time period, the Nasdaq has lost almost 10 percent.

The answer to the IPO’s market strength is no mystery.

The 2000-2002 bear market made new-issues investors much more selective. They want solid companies with revenues and, in most cases, with net income. Investors also want these IPOs to be priced cheap, at discounts to their publicly traded competitors. Bankers gave them everything they demanded.

As a result of investors’ selectivity, the number of companies going public shriveled. It has taken bankers 19 months to get 100 IPOs into the market. During October 1996, bankers priced a single-month record of 109 IPOs, according to “The IPO Aftermarket,” a now defunct weekly newsletter.

So where’s the action?

The Big Winners:
PayPal, a Palo Alto, California-based online payment provider, priced its IPO at $13 a share on Feb. 15, 2002. On Oct. 3, 2002, PayPal became a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay (EBAY: chart). Each share of PayPal was exchangeable for 0.39 of a share of eBay common stock. EBay closed Friday, July 18, 2003, at $110.11 a share. The investment in PayPal would have been worth $42.94 a share, or up 230.3 percent from its initial offering price.

Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS: chart), a Pittsburgh-based specialty retailer, priced its IPO at $18 a share on Oct. 15, 2002. The stock closed Friday, July 18, 2003, at $36.45 a share, up 207.9 percent from its initial offering price.

The Big Loser:
Northwest Biotherapeutics (NWBT: chart), a Bothell, Washington-based biotech firm, priced its IPO at $5 a share on Dec. 14, 2001. The stock closed Friday, July 18, 2003, at 38 cents a share, down 92.4 percent from its initial offering price.

The Brand-Name IPOs:
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings (CME: chart), the parent of the Chicago futures exchange known as the Merc, priced its IPO at $35 a share on Dec. 5, 2002. The stock closed Friday, July 18, 2003, at $74.80 a share, up 113.7 percent from its initial offering price.

JetBlue Airways (JBLU: chart), a Kew Gardens, New York-based low-cost passenger airlines, priced its IPO at $18 a share (adjusted for a 1.5-for-1 stock split) on April 11, 2002. The stock closed Friday, July 18, at $42.15 a share, up 134.2 percent from its initial offering price.

Travelers Property Casualty ((TAP.A)), a Hartford-based property and casualty insurer, priced its IPO at $18.50 a share on March 22, 2002. The stock closed Friday, July 18, 2003, at $16.25 a share, down 12.2 percent from its initial offering price.

The Sectors:
The last 100 companies that went public represented 31 industrial sectors, according to available records.

Insurance companies priced 10 IPOs.

Health care and specialty retailer companies priced nine IPOs each from these sectors.

Defense companies priced eight IPOs.

Yes, there was a small sprinkling of Internet IPOs. Three companies from this sector went public. They were Netflix (NFLX: chart), up 61 percent from its initial offering price; PayPal and Plumbtree Software (PLUM: chart), down 52.9 percent from its initial offering price.

The Bankers:
It may seem like all the action in bringing these 100 IPOs to market belongs to a few investment bankers. That is not exactly accurate. The roll call of book runners produced no less than 35 bankers, according to available records.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s take a closer look at who played what over the last 19 months.