169 initial public offerings have been priced so far this year:

- 86 are currently trading up;
- 81 are down;
- 2 are trading flat with their offer price.

A total of 2 IPOs priced and 5 new filed the week of October 17th, 2005.

There are 6 deals scheduled to price this week, hoping to raise about $560 million.

IPO PERFORMANCE

CBOT Holdings, Inc. (BOT: chart), the holding company for the Chicago Board of Trade, announced Tuesday the initial public offering of 3.2 million shares of common stock at a price of $54 per unit.

The company sold 2.9 million shares, raising $158.8 million, while 251,000 shares were offered by existing stockholders.

CBOT Holdings has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 478,700 additional shares at the IPO price to cover excess demand. CS First Boston and J.P. Morgan acted as lead managers on the deal. Citigroup, Keefe Bruyette & Woods, and Sandler O'Neill acted as co-managers.

CBOT Holdings operates the second largest U.S. futures and commodities market and is one of the leading global derivative exchanges. The company provides premier customer service, using superior trading technology in both electronic and open-auction trading platforms.

CBOT's hot IPO echoes the success of its rival, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME: chart), which went public in late 2002. Merc�s stock was priced at $35 a share and now trades at $348, up 851%.

CBOT's shares made the fourth-best debut performance of a U.S. initial public offering this year, following Chinese Web search company Baidu.com (BIDU), oil explorer JMG Exploration (JMG: chart) and online equity options market International Securities Exchange (ISE: chart).

The CBOT's boost stands in contrast to the collapse in the stock price of futures brokerage Refco Inc. (RFX: chart), which filed for bankruptcy on Monday. Refco went public in August at $22 a share. The stock lost 72% last week as Refco suspended its chief executive of hiding $430 million of debt.

Shares of CBOT ended the week at $112, up 107% from their offering price.

NCI Inc. (NCIT: chart) priced its IPO at $10.50 per share on Thursday, near the low end of the estimated range of $10-$12, raising $54.1 million.

The company offered 5.15 million shares, including 4.8 million sold by the company and 350 thousand from selling shareholders. The underwriters have the option to sell up to 772,500 additional shares if demand is sufficient.

The company provides secure information technology systems, primarily to U.S. defense and intelligence agencies.

Lead underwriters on the deal were Legg Mason and Raymond James.

NCI�s stock will begin trading on the Nasdaq on Monday. The company�s debut was postponed because of technical difficulties.

IPO CALENDAR � week of October 24th

Electro-Optical Sciences (MELA: chart), a medical device maker, plans to offer 4.0 million shares at $5.50 a share, in a bid to raise $23 million. The company had originally filed to offer 3.0 million shares within a price range of $10-$12. Ladenburg Thalmann and the Stanford Group will be the underwriters on the deal.

Predix Pharmaceuticals (PRDX: chart), a small-molecule drugs developer, plans to offer 5.0 million shares within a price range of $10-$12 per unit, in a bid to raise $69 million shares. UBS Investment Bank and Deutsche Bank will be the lead managers on the deal.

Medical device company NxStage Medical (NXTM: chart) plans to offer 5.5 million shares within a price range of $13-$15 a share, in a bid to raise $77 million. Merrill Lynch will head the list of underwriters on the deal.