NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Corillian Corp Wednesday became the third company this week to tread water in its first day of trading, sparking fears that the white-hot initial public offering market has finally cooled.
After being lower for most of the day, shares of Corillian (CORI: Research, Estimates), which provides Internet services to financial companies, rose 1/2 to 8-1/2. That's slightly above its $8 offering price late Tuesday but well below analysts' expectations.
"There is some weakness out there," said Jeffrey Hirschkorn
senior market analyst at IPO.com "They are not impervious to this market turmoil."
The market turmoil comes as the Nasdaq composite index plunged more than 600 points this week.
In recent years, the strength of the IPO market has tracked the Nasdaq. Initial public offerings raised more than $69 billion in 1999, a record that came as the Nasdaq jumped 85 percent. But IPO demand has slackened as investors this month unloaded tech stocks, betting their sky-high prices don't reflect their growth prospects.
Two other offerings, DDI Corp. (DDIC: Research, Estimates) and Healthstream Inc. (HSTM: Research, Estimates) fell from their offering prices Tuesday.
"We are seeing a definite change in market sentiment," said David Menlow, president of IPOfinancial.com. He sees the slump lasting until mid-May.
And the recent turmoil has meant underwriters cheapening their offering prices or postponing deals altogether. Credit Suisse First Boston Tuesday put the offering of Drugabuse Sciences Inc. on the back burner.
"You're going to start seeing that the IPO market will get more selective," IPO.com's Hirschkorn said.
Deals like AT&T's spin-off of its wireless unit should draw big demand, as will next week's IPO of Alta Vista, the search engine, Hirschkorn said.
But less-known more speculative names may not be as well received.
And just Tuesday Bookham Technology (BKHMV: Research, Estimates), which designs which designs optical components for fiber-optic networks, more than tripled in its market debut.
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