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Conference nyoss1::market_investing

Title:Market Investing
Moderator:2155::michaud
Created:Thu Jan 23 1992
Last Modified:Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1060
Total number of notes:10477

416.0. "How do you know when a stock is going public?" by ROWLET::AINSLEY (Less than 150 kts. is TOO slow!) Tue Mar 16 1993 13:04

When a company is going public, it obviously has to file certain documents with
the SEC.  How does one find out about this?

Thanks,

Bob - mad that he missed Intuit last week
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416.1There are even expensive IPO investing newsletters...DSSDEV::PIEKOSZoo TVTue Mar 16 1993 13:1710
Generally, that fact that a company has filed with the SEC for an IPO is
reported in Barron's, The WSJ, and even The Globe.

Check through some past notes in this conf.  Usually it is very tough to get
in on an IPO.  Also, Peter Lynch has an article in the latest WORTH magazine
talking about IPO's.

Good luck.

John Piekos
416.2READ, READ, READUSCTR1::BJORGENSENJust another ASEL....Tue Mar 16 1993 16:255
    The globe even had PowerSofts public offering notice weeks ahead of
    time - PWRS was offered in te 16-17$ range and closed the first day 
    at 38$!!!  The notice was even in the VOGON news!!
    
     
416.3ROWLET::AINSLEYLess than 150 kts. is TOO slow!Tue Mar 16 1993 16:444
Thanks for the replies.  I didn't realize I should be looking under IPO...I
did a dir/title=public, but didn't find anything.

Bob
416.4TPSYS::SHAHAmitabh "Drink DECAF: Commit Sacrilege"Tue Mar 16 1993 17:163
	I think the WSJ (and also NY Times that I know of) will have the
	IPO's for a given week in that week's Monday edition. Often, this
	may be too late. 
416.5Only in VNS Computer News by luck - but that's how everything gets there :-)PTPM06::TALCOTTWed Mar 17 1993 14:407
I don't look for computer/high-technology-related IPO notices. When something
appears in a standalone article I use it...
        in Heard On The Street (WSJ) I may well use it
	on Abreast of the Market, OTC Focus, etc. (WSJ) odds are I'll miss it as
		I don't scan those sections too carefully.

						Trace
416.6How.....When....WhereWFOV12::CERVONEWed Mar 17 1993 14:504
    Was anyone able to get in on Powersoft in Feb when it came out. If so
    how did you go about doing it I hear IPO's are real hard to get in on.
    
    Frank
416.7SDSVAX::SWEENEYPatrick Sweeney in New YorkFri Mar 19 1993 12:1410
    A complaint (not a proven allegation) was made that Wall Street firms
    that are directing their piece of "hot" IPO's to their best and most
    wealthy clients.
    
    Someone like Bill Gates (mentioned in the complaint) is getting as much
    as they want from the IPO's.
    
    It isn't obvious that this practice is illegal either.  So the emphasis
    is on seeing if it is illegal or seeing if the laws can be changed to
    make it so.
416.8Why buy an IPO at IPO?AOSG::GILLETTCandidate for DCU Board of DirectorsFri Mar 19 1993 16:3341
>    A complaint (not a proven allegation) was made that Wall Street firms
>    that are directing their piece of "hot" IPO's to their best and most
>    wealthy clients.
>    
>    Someone like Bill Gates (mentioned in the complaint) is getting as much
>    as they want from the IPO's.
>
>    It isn't obvious that this practice is illegal either.  So the emphasis
>    is on seeing if it is illegal or seeing if the laws can be changed to
>    make it so.

I don't see a problem here.  Why would the sponsoring firms want
to mess around with several thousand 100-500 share players when they
can place the stuff with a couple hundred folks with serious money?

Whenever I get a call from somebody about "a hot new IPO that you
simply must have" all sorts of warning bells go off in my head.  I got
a call a couple weeks ago from some guy trying to off-load 1000 share
units of some health care outfit.  A careful reading of the offering
paperwork revealed that 80% of the proceeds were going to principals
who were taking their money off the table.  

A decent IPO for a good company always leaves something on the table
for the players.  A *really good* IPO can still be an excellent deal
weeks or months after the offering.  Consider:  Media Logic (AmEx TST)
went public on the ECM at something like $0.38/share.   Not many
folks were able to buy at this price.  But a couple months later,
when they were at $4.50/share they were still a good deal.  Especially
when you consider that they're now at around $34, plus a 2-1 split.

The number of IPOs that do a PowerSoft are few and far between.  
Many more go the way of the recent Wilt Chamberlain offering.

Don't know if it's been mentioned here or not, but recent IPO 
prices, as well as data about equities and debt in regisration
is published daily in Investor's Business Daily - a newspaper
I'm liking more and more every time I read it.

My $0.02,
./chris

416.9Some data...AOSG::GILLETTCandidate for DCU Board of DirectorsFri Mar 19 1993 16:4220
As an additional piece of data, I just consulted
Investor's Business Daily for Thursday the 18th.

For 15 IPOs ranging from 3/9 - 3/15, consider 
the following:

Unchanged from IPO:  7 or 46%

Winners: 3 or 19%
	 
	 Increased by < 10%:  1 or 6%
	 Increased by > 10%:  2 or 13%

Losers:  5 or 30%


The average percentage gain for winners was 13.1%
The average percentage loss for losers was 21.04%

./chris