Business Insight Zone

Yes, we’re rolling in IPOs these days. My short-form opinion comes in this BusinessWeek article, which quotes me:

IPOs: Investors Test the Waters, Warily

The long-form opinion is this piece, which I just wrote for The Deal Magazine:

Better weather ahead for IPOs?

Don’t worry, it’s not that long — just 1,300 words — but if you want a teaser before diving in, here’s a key excerpt:

A stocked pipeline of filings and healthy equity markets are indicators of something bigger that’s prized throughout the IPO arena: predictability. That’s precisely what has been lacking over the past several quarters. It was bad enough that the economy turned sour in 2008; it was worse, in terms of predictability, that it happened during a hotly contested U.S. election season that promised very different paths for corporate regulation and financial oversight depending on who got elected. And then came a series of highly unpredictable — even unthinkable — events like the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the selloff of Merrill Lynch & Co. and Washington’s bailout of major banks and carmakers. It was hardly a ripe environment for bringing a fledgling company to the public equity markets, as the IPO of Rackspace so painfully demonstrated, and it’s no wonder that investors rushed for the exits.

By now, the processes of economic recovery are under way. For better or worse, depending on your viewpoint, we have much more clarity on Washington’s likely actions. Major banks no longer teeter on the edge of collapse. And investors have bid up the Standard & Poor’s 500 by more than 25% in the past six months.

These conditions favor a steady cadence of IPOs — something dear to the hearts of investors, underwriters, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs alike. Beyond that, they enable an occasional IPO splash by a company with less-than-stellar financials but strong promise for the future.

Please do give the Deal article a read — and give me an earful of what you think about it in the comments.

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