But while the 17 Internet IPOs released in April easily eclipsed the previous record of 13 set just one month before - how's that for momentum? - the average percentage gain in the first-day closing price over the offer price for Internet IPOs in April was 116%, the lowest amount this year.
Compare that to the averages for January (241%), February (122%) and March (134%), and it might be reasonable to conclude that the Internet IPO market began to reach a saturation point in April.
However, a closer look at the numbers indicates that the two Internet stock market corrections in mid-month may have had more to do with April's relative first-day shortfall than did any surplus of new Internet stock plays.
The 12 Internet IPOs released after the first market correction on April 14 had an average first-day close of 98% above the offer price. In contrast, the first-day closing price of the five initial April IPOs averaged 162% above the offer amount.
Certainly April had its share of moonshots, with three Internet IPOs - from Log On America, Rhythms NetConnections and Marimba - each ending their first day of trading at more than 200% above the offer price. More telling was the high percentage of Internet IPOs that failed to hit the stratosphere. Seven out of 17 - that's 41% -- failed to reach at least double the offer price when the closing bell rang on their first day of trading. And three of April's IPOs - from Town Pages Net.com, AppliedTheory and Launch Media - were among the five worst of 1999 in terms of opening-day performance. All three began trading after April 14.
Below are charts showing this year's 10 best Internet stock debuts -- measured by first-day closing price as a percentage of offer price - and a chronological listing of all Internet IPOs and their first-day performance through April.
10 Best of 1999
- CBS MarketWatch.com (Jan. 15) - 474%
- priceline.com (March 30) - 331%
- Healtheon (Feb. 11) - 292%
- Log On America (April 22) - 250%
- iVillage (March 19) - 234%
- Rhythms NetConnections (April 7) - 229%
- Tut Systems (Jan. 29) - 219%
- Marimba (April 30) - 203%
- Autoweb.com (March 23) - 186%
- VerticalNet (Feb. 11) - 184%
Internet IPOs Through April
- Jan. 15 -- CBS MarketWatch.com, 474%
- Jan. 22 - Covad Communications, 151%
- Jan. 22 - Allaire, 119%
- Jan. 29 - Tut Systems, 219%
- Feb. 5 - Pacific Internet, 182%
- Feb. 5 - Modem Media.Poppe Tyson, 181%
- Feb. 11 - VerticalNet, 184%
- Feb. 11 - Prodigy Communications, 88%
- Feb.11 - Healtheon, 292%
- Feb. 12 - Bottomline Technologies, 57%
- Feb. 17 - Digital Lava, -14%
- Feb. 19 - WebTrends, 108%
- Feb. 19 - Vignette, 125%
- Feb. 26 - pcOrder.com, 124%
- Feb. 26 - Intraware, 18%
- March 5 - NEON Systems, 67%
- March 9 - RoweCom, 53%
- March 16 - FlashNet Communications, 157%
- March 17 - Multex.com, 140%
- March 19 - iVillage, 234%
- March 19 - Cheap Tickets, 108%
- March 23 - Autoweb.com, 186%
- March 24 - MiningCo.com, 90%
- March 25 - OneMain.com, 80%
- March 26 - autobytel.com, 75%
- March 29 - Critical Path, 129%
- March 30 - priceline.com, 331%
- March 31 - ZDNet Group, 89%
- April 6 - Claimsnet.com, 106%
- April 7 - Rhythms NetConnections, 229%
- April 8 - Value America, 140%
- April 9 - Usinternetworking, 174%
- April 9 - iTurf, 161%
- April 14 - Sagent Technology, 73%
- April 15 - WorldGate Communications, 62%
- April 19 - Proxicom, 50%
- April 20 - Internet Financial Services, 57%
- April 22 - Log On America, 250%
- April 23 - Net Perceptions, 113%
- April 23 - Launch Media, 29%
- April 27 - Razorfish, 109%
- April 29 - Mpath Interactive, 181%
- April 30 - Marimba, 203%
- April 30 - Town Pages Net.com, 16%
- April 30 - AppliedTheory, 28%
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