A Bonny Week for IPOs

The syndicate market over the past five days has been absolutely spectacular. Of the six deals that priced, five of them had great first-day performances, while one of them was a real stinker.

The stinker was DJ Orthopedics(DJO), which broke its $17 issue price almost immediately to end the day down more than 10%. I want to own up to this one and say that I missed the call.

The truth is that I heard a rumor a couple of hours before the stock priced. The story was that some large orders had been canceled and that the deal was in trouble. I chalked this up to rumormongering and held my positive opinion. My rationale was that someone was trying to shake out some weak indications of interest (IOIs) and free up some deal stock. Man, was I wrong.

That being said, the remainder of this week's deals traded as well as I had hoped. Readers have been emailing to say that they received deal stock in Weight Watchers(WTW), AMN Healthcare(AHS) and even Advisory Board(ABCO), and that they were stoked with the gains. Fisher & Paykel's(FPHC) and Cross Country's(CCRN) IPOs also did well.

Some brave souls (you are my heroes!) even wrote that they had blown their stock and taken the profits. To these people I say "right on!" Don't you listen to anyone who says you'll be shut out for selling. You're not in this to make the brokers like you, you're in this to make money!

If you don't get any more stock from that broker, you can whine about it over coffee (paid for with your WTW gains) while you fill out the account opening forms from another underwriting firm.

Be hard. Be focused. Be clear why you're in the market in the first place.

I'm taking a much-needed vacation next week. See you when I get back.

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