The price of potential is on the rise.
At least that's a conclusion to be garnered by looking at next week's slate of new stock offerings.
Close to a dozen Internet and technology companies are planning to make sizable stock market debuts in areas ranging from telecommunications to online lending. With larger deals ranging from about $40 million to more than $200 million, there will be plenty of pricey offerings to choose from.
But, as usual, most of the hottest deals come from companies that say they've just begun to prove what they're capable of.
"They're all real good, but not for all the right reasons," said Vincent Slavin, an institutional trader with Cantor Fitzgerald who tracks IPOs.
Deals will succeed less on the basis of financial fundamentals and more because they're in the right sector at the right time, he said.
His picks for top performers of the week include Inforte, which provides consulting and systems integration services to businesses; and Chordiant, which also does consulting and makes software for managing customer communications over the Internet and the phone.
The lineup also includes a couple of heavy hitters originally expected to go public this week, including Avenue A, which provides Internet advertising services; and Choice One Communications, which provides DSL high-speed Internet service as well as local and long distance phone service to businesses.
Analysts at Renaissance Capital predict those that do the best won't be those with the best track records.
"Unless a company is offering almost limitless growth prospects, IPO investors are not interested," Renaissance Capital analysts wrote. "And the more established a company is, the less chance it has to offer unlimited growth potential."
Perhaps the largest offering of the week comes from Savvis Communications, which provides network services to ISPs and Internet businesses over lines it leases from major telecommunications carriers. Savvis, founded in 1996 and majority-owned by Bridge Information Systems, is seeking to raise more than $200 million through a sale of 17 million shares.
"It's possible for the deal to stay pricey and still do very well," said Corey Ostman, chief technical officer of Alert IPO. "It's just in all the right market spaces at all the right times."
Rounding out the week are offerings from Eloquent, a developer of so-called rich media -- which combines audio, video text, and hyperlink elements -- for business presentations; and online textbook retailer VartistyBooks.com.
Less likely to reach a stratospheric valuation, Slavin says, is Lending Tree, which runs an online service for submitting loan applications to multiple lenders.
Although Lending Tree, which lost $25 million in 1999, has plenty of potential to grow, it might not be what investors are looking for.
"It's not a hot sector," Slavin said.
