Risky IPOs Need Not Apply to This Market

It's often said the markets are driven by fear and greed, but it's usually one or the other. This month, the IPO market is a case of fear running smack up against greed.

It's rare for so many companies to be rushing to crash the gates of the IPO market while just as many are backing out. But the tumultuous stock market has curbed the appetite for risk among investors, even as a lot of private companies are eager to squeak out before the IPO market slows down for the holidays.

Four companies postponed their plans in November for an IPO: Symetra Financial, an insurer; Cross Match Technologies, a maker of electronic fingerprinting devices (its second postponement in four months); Stewart & Stevenson, an oil and gas equipment producer; and CreditCards.com, an online company.

Three others have withdrawn their plans for an initial offering entirely: Reliant Technologies, a maker of laser systems for skin rejuvenation; Paradigm, which makes software for oil and gas exploration; and Reliant Pharmaceuticals, a cardiovascular-drug maker.

What does it say about the IPO market that two unrelated companies named Reliant canceled their plans to go public within a week of each other? Draw your own conclusions.

(For the record, three of those postponed or withdrawn IPOs had Merrill Lynch as a lead underwriter. Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan's names sat atop the prospectuses of two.)

Seven companies backing away from an IPO in a single month is quite a bit. Most months see three or four at the most. But for every seat vacated by a reluctant startup, there were at least three hoping to climb into the public arena before things slow down at the end of the year.