Just Being In A Hot Industry Isn't Enough For Public Market Success

from the heads-on-straight dept

There's been a lot of debate about how today's IPO market compares to that of the last boom. This year's first quarter has seen a resurgence not only in total deal volume, but in highly speculative deals from companies that are in the red. The latter part is what has people worried, although there's no rule that says a company must be profitable before it goes public. One good sign is that while the deals are getting done, investors seem to be realistic about the prospects of some of these companies. Clearwire, which faces significant hurdles, has certainly not been a star performer on the market. Last week, Ocean Power Technologies, a company that turns ocean waves into energy, came public, hoping to capitalize on the hot green tech sector. But despite it being well-situated industry-wise, the company's off to a poor start, as investors recognize how weak the company is. This is definitely not how the market would've reacted seven years ago, when any company deemed to be in a hot space raced higher. In fact, the last bubble did have a green tech component, as several companies trying to capitalize on fuel cells saw their stocks explode. All in all, there's little suggest that speculative mania has returned to the market. Yes, investors seem optimistic, as both the spate of IPOs and the record market highs indicate, but they're not so much so that they're ignoring obvious problems with a company's fundamentals.