Crayfish Isn't Sushi to Japanese: Emailer's Stock Smelly After IPO

Shares of Crayfish (CRFH) debuted ask-only in Japan on Friday and consequently suffered stateside as well. The tumble came just two days after the email and Web-hosting firm enjoyed a spectacular rise of more than 400% on its first day of trading Wednesday on the Nasdaq.

Investors in Japan obviously were not as impressed as their U.S. counterparts by the company, which is majority owned by Japanese cell-phone-retailer-cum-Internet-play Hikari Tsushin. "The stock is not viewed with such abandoned exuberance in Japan as [in] the U.S.," said David Menlow, president of New Jersey-based IPOfinancial.com, which tracks initial public offerings.

In New York, Tokyo-based Crayfish fell 46 1/2, or 35%, to 85 15/16 on the Nasdaq, pulled down by an ask-only close of 45 million yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's high-technology Mothers market. The shares opened at ask-only 65 million yen per 1,000 shares, but as the trading day progressed, sell orders far outnumbered buy orders. (Prices on the Japanese exchange have to be "auctioned," unlike in the U.S.) No trades in the company's shares were completed.

"It's an email services stock, which is a very strong sector," Menlow commented. "But it's not a runaway sector, not like broadband." He also called the stock's opening and after-market activity Wednesday "overdone."

In fact, Japanese investors have had little enthusiasm recently for Internet-related stocks. Hikari Tsushin's drop of almost 25% Friday on profit-taking and bad press took some of the wind out of Crayfish's sails. The company, which markets cellular phones and invests in Internet companies, owns 50.1% of Crayfish. Shares of Hikari Tsushin rival Softbank also tumbled 14,800, or 13%, to 99,200 yen.

Menlow said that Crayfish investors should not despair. "Even at this level, Crayfish is an enormously successful offering," Menlow said.

TSC previewed the Crayfish IPO last Thursday.

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