Competitive Intelligence

Red Herring’s 2004 IPO Market Robust

Google was neither the biggest, nor the sharpest pop, but 2004 represented a big rebound in IPO activity, according to Red Herring:

The 10 largest IPOs of 2004

· Genworth Financial ($2.83 billion)
· Assurant ($1.76 billion)
· Semiconductor Mfg International ($1.71 billion)
· Google ($1.67 billion)
· Freescale Semiconductor ($1.58 billion)
· China Netcom Group ($1.03 billion)
· Dex Media ($1.01 billion)
· Assured Guaranty ($882 million)
· NAVTEQ ($880 million)
· DreamWorks Animation SKG ($812 million)

Top 10 sharpest opening-day gains of 2004

· JED Oil (up 103.6 percent)
· Arbinet-thexchange (up 65.7 percent)
· Las Vegas Sands (up 60.6 percent)
· Shopping.com (up 60 percent)
· MarketAxess Holdings (up 59 percent)
· salesforce.com (up 56.4 percent)
· Eyetech Pharmaceuticals (up 54.3 percent)
· PortalPlayer (up 51.8 percent)
· 51job (up 51.1 percent)
· Cogent Systems (up 49.8 percent)

Top IPO industrial sectors for 2004

Companies from 52 industrial sectors priced IPOs during 2004.

Among the top 10 sectors were:

· Technology (including computer, semiconductor, software, and technology): 49 IPOs that raised $8.4 billon. The average opening-day gain was 17.4 percent. On December 31, the average gain was 50.83 percent from their initial offering prices. The 52-week Dow Jones Technology Index was up 1.37 percent.

· Pharmaceuticals: 25 IPOs that raised $1.5 billon. Average opening-day gain: 9.87 percent. On December 31, the average gain from their initial offering prices was 9.42 percent. The 52-week Dow Jones Pharmaceutical Index was down 10.2 percent.

· Internet: 19 IPOs that raised $3.1 billon. Average opening-day gain: 21.96 percent. Average gain at year-end from their initial offering prices: 87.2 percent. The 52-week Dow Jones Internet Services Index was up 60.8 percent.

· Medical equipment: 18 IPOs that raised $1.1 billon. Average opening-day gain: 10.7 percent. On December 31, the average gain was 28.5 percent from their initial offering prices. The 52-week Dow Jones Medical Equipment Index was up 13.7 percent.

· Semiconductors: 15 IPOs that raised $1.1 billon. Average opening-day gain: 7.69 percent. Average gain at year-end from their initial offering prices: 6.03 percent. The 52-week Dow Jones Semiconductor Index was down 21.7 percent.

· The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 8.59 percent for the year.

- Arik