Paying Attention to Those Men Behind the Curtain

Ben Holmes has the market covered: Sundays: This Week in IPOs Tuesdays: This Week's Secondaries Wednesdays: Upcoming Lockup Expirations Fridays: The Quiet Period

Take a second to scroll through the lineup for this week and marvel at the sheer number of deals that are slated to price. I just finished the table and I am astonished myself. Twenty-eight IPOs in one week, that's a lot of deals. But, this market seems more than willing to buy whatever volume of product the syndicate departments can turn out.

While I was preparing this week's list I found myself really drilling down on a particular part of the filings, a section that is usually titled "PRINCIPAL AND SELLING SHAREHOLDERS". This is where they list most of the large beneficial owners of a company's stock. It is here that you find out who really believes in these companies as investments. I always read these listings, but this week they just seemed far more telling than usual. This week they seemed packed with what I and many others refer to as Smart Money. In many of my comments I've included a listing of these shareholders. Take note of the names, and in time you'll begin to recognize them. The involvement of these uber-investors can be an easy clue-in to the hot deals.

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