NEW YORK -- While the past week's initial public offerings have shown some calming in the frenzy for cyber deals, the year's remaining Internet IPOs are expected to draw strong -- if no longer sky-rocketing -- demand.
Headlining this coming week's schedule of new issues are three Internet deals: InfoSpace.com, Pacific Internet, and audiohighway.com.
These deals, seen as the last significant new issues of the year before the market winds down for the holidays, follow relatively lukewarm performances in Internet IPOs last week.
In spite of predictions of more eye-popping gains for new Internet stocks, shares of two of the past week's offerings -- AboveNet Communications (ABOV) and Internet America (GEEK) -- only rose a few points after their debuts.
In fact, Claimsnet.com (CLAI), a lower-profile deal, dropped below its offering price on its first day of trade.
The week's hottest IPO, Xoom.com (XMCM), shed nearly 16 points from its high of $42, which it hit at its debut a few days earlier.
"I think the pent-up demand for IPOs after the late summer's dry spell has been satisfied, and people are stepping back now and evaluating things rationally," said Ben Holmes, an analyst at ipoPros in Boulder, Colorado.
The more "rational" climate for IPOs may keep investors from driving up the price of the week's Internet offerings, but analysts expect at least a three-point jump in the stock of InfoSpace and Pacific Internet.
InfoSpace, a compiler of Internet content, is seen as a hot offering. The company has relationships with big-name technology giants like America Online and Netscape Communications.
Pacific Internet, meanwhile, is an online access provider -- a less glamorous niche of the Internet business than content providers. However, the deal is viewed as intriguing because the company offers its services in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.
"Singapore is a unique angle," said Kathleen Smith, portfolio Manager at the Renaissance IPO Fund. "The economy there has been declining, yet this business is growing."
Audiohighway, which provides a service for playing audio recordings over the Internet, is expected to garner less demand than the week's other cyber deals.
This is largely because its lead underwriter, Paulson Investment Co., is not as well-known on Wall Street as Hambrecht & Quist and Lehman Brothers, the lead underwriters on the InfoSpace and Pacific Internet deals.
Copyright© 1998 Reuters Limited.
