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Most Successful IPO Is Dole, Says Poll
By Jeanine Poggi
TheStreet.com Staff Reporter
11/07/09 11:00 AM EST

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Ranking IPOs is tricky business. What seems a strong public offering at first can prove to have no legs; those that start slow can ultimately reveal staying power. So when we asked users of TheStreet to rank which of five latest IPOs was the most successful, the race was tight. Dole Foods (DOLE:NYSE) won the balloting, with 32.6% of users calling it the most successful IPO, despite the fact that those fresh shares in the company had tumbled 2.7% after their first full week of trading.

The maker of bananas and fresh-fruit cups, saw its initial public offering priced lower than expected last Friday. Dole offered 35.7 million shares at $12.50, a full dollar below the low end of its range of $13.50 to $15, raising $446 million.

The Wynn Resorts (WYNN:NYSE) IPO of its Macau assets in October on the Hong Kong stock exchange has, inarguably, been one of the more successful.

On Wynn's Macau trading debut, shares rose as much as 13%.

The U.S. casino company sold 1.25 billion shares, or a 25% stake in the Macau business, in the IPO for HK$10.08 a share, the upper end of a price range of HK$8.52 to HK$10.08.

About 27.2% of TheStreet users named Wynn's IPO the winner.

Vitamin Shoppe (VSI:NYSE) ranked third with 22.8% of the vote.

Last week, Vitamin Shoppe raked in $154.6 million from its initial public offering, as it priced 9.1 million shares at $17 each. This was handily above the expected range of $14 to $16 a share.

On Wednesday, the company reported that profit jumped 4% in the third quarter, while sales shot up 11% to $168.4 million.

Shares jumped 10% to end the week at $19.41.

AGA Medical (AGAM:NYSE) placed fourth in our poll, garnering 11.2% of the vote.

The maker of devices for heart defects and blood-vessel diseases began trading on the Nasdaq on Oct. 21. AGA priced shares at $14.50, below the expected price range of $15 to $16 a share. It had previously forecast pricing between $19 and $21.

The company sold 13.75 million shares to raise $199.4 million.

Shares of the company ended the week flat at $39.20.

And last there was ZST Digital Networks (ZSTN:NYSE) , which tallied just 6.2% of votes as the strongest recent IPO.

ZST, a Chinese cable network equipment company, sold 3.1 million shares at $8, the midpoint of its forecast, last week. Afterward, shares tumbled 6% on its first day of trading and continued to fall.

Shares did, however, ultimately regain a modicum of pride, rising by 4% to $6.09 at the end of this week.

-- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York

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