10 Best-Performing IPOs of 2011

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- HomeAway (AWAY) is the latest hotly anticipated initial public offering this year, with shares of the online vacation rental company rising 50% in their debut Wednesday. But other initial share sales made investors more money -- doubling returns in some cases.

This year has already seen its share of super-hyped initial public offerings from companies like LinkedIn (LNKD), ZipCar (ZIP), Pandora (P) and Spirit Airlines (SAVE). Even more have filed for IPOs, including videogame maker Zynga and Groupon.

A total of 77 IPOs have been priced in 2011, a 22% increase from this time last year. More than $25 billion in proceeds have been raised, a 180% jump. The average IPO in 2011 has increased only 8.4% from its offer price, according to Renaissance Capital's IPOHome. That's down from last year's 25% gain but has still managed to beat the benchmark S&P 500 Index's 3.4% return.

Investing in a hot, new IPO is anything but a sure bet, though. Popular companies like ZipCar, FriendFinder Networks (FFN) and RenRen (RENN) are down anywhere from 30% to 60% since their debut earlier this year.

Some IPOs have rewarded investors with outsized returns, well above average. TheStreet examined the highest-returning IPOs this year, using data provided by Edgar Online.

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10. Responsys (MKTG)

Company Profile: Responsys provides on-demand software that enables email-based relationship marketing, allowing marketers to design email campaigns.

Return Since IPO: 41.7%

IPO Date: April 20

Offer Price: Responsys offered 6.6 million shares at $12 per share

Analyst Consensus: Responsys gets high praise from Wall Street firms, as the five analysts following the stock rate it as either "buy" or "outperform," including those at Credit Suisse, JMP Securities and William Blair.

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