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OmniSky soars 47%
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September 21, 2000: 4:32 p.m. ET
OmniSky meets strong expectations; TTM rises 31%; Zengine up 8.6%
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Two new issues produced solid returns in the reemerged IPO market Thursday with Internet wireless services provider OmniSky Corp., which rose 47 percent, emerging as the clear leader.
TTM Technologies, which offers manufacturing services for complex circuit boards, climbed 31 percent, and Zengine Inc., a technology provider for e-commerce companies, inched up 8.6 percent.
This week is the first time since August that new issues have begun trading. On Tuesday, two IPOs from Chiles Offshore LLC and ViryaNet Ltd. made their debuts.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based OmniSky Corp. (OMNY: Research, Estimates) was expected to be the week's strongest IPO and rose $5.63, or 47 percent, to close at $17.63.
 OmniSky raised $109.2 million Wednesday after selling 9.1 million shares at $12 each, the top of its expected $10-to-$12 range, via underwriters led by Credit Suisse First Boston.
Wireless service deals have not performed well of late but the OmniSky issue did well because of anticipation for this new market.
"Everyone sees a huge Internet wireless service market in the future," said Corey Ostman, co-CEO of Alert-IPO.com.
OmniSky offers wireless services under its brand name that let customers access the Internet, send and receive e-mail, and conduct e-commerce over handheld mobile devices, like a Palm device. OmniSky receives content from over 1,000 providers including CNBC, E*Trade, Fox Sports and Yahoo!.
OmniSky exceeded Ostman's expectations of a 30 percent gain for the IPO.
"The market is at such an early stage it's difficult to know if people will be ordering movie tickets or groceries with their phones. Who knows at this point," he said.
The company launched its wireless services nationally in May and already has 21,300 subscribers.
TTM opens solidly
TTM Technologies had the potential to be the week's sleeper IPO, analysts said. TTM Tech rose $4.94, or 31 percent, to $20.94.
TTM Technologies (TTMI: Research, Estimates) raised $120 million after selling 7.5 million shares at $16 each via underwriters led by Robertson Stephens. The company had planned to offer 7.5 million shares at $13-to-$15 each.
Redmond, Wash.-based TTM Technologies provides manufacturing services for printed circuit boards that serve as the base for routers, switches, servers and computer memory modules.
TTM comes in the solid semiconductor sector, which normally performs well in the IPO market. TTM also offers the additional bonus of profitability with operating income of $16.1 million on net sales of $88.2 million for the first two quarters in fiscal 2000.
TTM targets companies in the networking and high-end computing industry such as General Electric (GE: Research, Estimates), Motorola Inc. (MOT: Research, Estimates) and Solectron.
Zengine inches up
Zengine Inc. hovered for much of the day around its offer price and then climbed $1.13, or nearly 9 percent, to $14.13.
Zengine Inc. (ZNGN: Research, Estimates) sold 4.29 million shares at $13 each, compared with an anticipated range of $13 to $15, via underwriters led by William Blair. The deal includes 390,000 shares sold to MCSi Inc. shareholders who owned at least 100 MCSi shares as of May 15.
Fremont, Calif.-based Zengine offers a suite of technology services that lets companies offer business-to-consumer and business-to-business services.
The IPO suffered because Wall Street no longer looks favorably on e-commerce deals, Alert-IPO.com's Ostman said. The sector was in high gear during the third and fourth quarters of 1999, but then plummeted during the first half of 2000.
"Zengine came a year late to the party," Ostman said. 
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