IPO Activity on Wall Street

Historically IPO activity on Wall Street tends to be a feast or famine scenario, and it seems that investors interested in IPOs are in for a feast right now as a number of companies in different sectors go public. Having made its debut as a stock market listed company on Wednesday, Dunkin’ Brands traded up from the original list price. Shares were priced at $19, but opened at $25 and closed the day at $27,85 – up 46.6 percent. As the holding company of Dunkin’ Donuts and the Baskin Robbins chain of stores, Dunkin’ Brands trades on NASDAQ under the symbol of DNKN.

Dunkin’ Brands is the latest in a list of private equity backed companies to go public since the beginning of 2011, including the renowned consumer ratings company Nielsen Holdings; chip manufacturer Freescale Semiconductor Holdings, and HCA Healthcare. Virgina-based ADS Tactical Inc. is set to go public on Friday July 29 with the intention of raising $204 million through the sale of 12 million shares priced at between $16 and $18. With JP Morgan, Wells Fargo Securities and Morgan Stanley as the main underwriters, ADS will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker code of ADSI.

While environmentalists have raised concerns regarding the process of fracking as a means to extract oil, it appears that this is unlikely to deter investors from buying into C&J Energy as it goes public with the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CJES. The Houston-based fracturing specialists hope to raise $305 million through an IPO of 11.5 million shares priced at $25 to $28 per share. Underwriters for C&J Energy are JP Morgan, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

Teavana Holdings will be listing with the NYSE under the symbol TEA with an offering of 7 million shares priced in the $13 to $15 range. Lead underwriters are Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs. Other companies going public include Chefs Warehouse, Tangoe Inc., Horizon Pharma Inc., American Midstream Partners, Union Agriculture Group, Wesco Aircraft Holdings, and WhiteGlove Health. With authorities doing battle over the raising of the debt ceiling and all its implications, analysts believe that the IPO activity will capture the attention of investors on Wall Street as an interesting, and hopefully profitable, diversion.