Archipelago IPO Looks Well-Timed

Archipelago just announced plans to go public, and already the comparisons to Instinet(INGP Quote) have begun. Yet there are reasons to believe Archipelago will perform better in the public domain than its competitor has so far.

Instinet has declined 59% since making its public debut in May 2001, and the company has been bleeding red ink for much of that time amid a softer market for stock trading and increased competition.

It's hard to know how Archipelago has been performing because as a private company it does not release financial results. But the firm has rapidly increased its share of the market in recent years and now processes 24% of Nasdaq trades, according to a spokeswoman. Instinet, which has been around far longer, executes almost 27% of Nasdaq trades. ...