NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Three companies made mixed debuts Tuesday in one of the busiest days for initial public offerings in the past three years.
Conn's, SIRVA and Pinnacle all began trading after pricing their IPOs, with one gaining strongly and the other two lagging.
Appliance and electronics retailer Conn's (CONN: Research, Estimates), based in Beaumont, Texas, rose about 7 percent after its underwriter, Stephens Inc., priced 4.2 million shares at an initial offering of $14 each.
Westmont, Ill.-based SIRVA (SIR: Research, Estimates), edged 2.2 percent lower. The provider of relocation services to corporations, governments, and individuals, also started trading Tuesday. Its underwriter, Credit Suisse First Boston, priced its initial offering of 21.1 million shares at $18.50 each.
Northwest's Pinnacle Airlines (PNCL: Research, Estimates), only the second regional air carrier to be spun off by a major airline, saw its shares tumble about 7 percent. Its initial offering of 19.4 million shares was priced at $14 each. Continental's ExpressJet Holdings (XJT: up $0.13 to $15.66, Research, Estimates), the first to be sired by a major airline, initially offered shares in April 2002. Pinnacle originally filed to go public in February 2002.
It was the busiest day for new offerings since late last month. According to data from Thomson Financial, four IPOs priced on Oct. 29: Genitope (GTOP: up $0.38 to $12.09, Research, Estimates), CancerVax (CNVX: down $0.10 to $9.20, Research, Estimates), Myogen (MYOG: up $0.12 to $12.88, Research, Estimates) and Centennial Specialty Foods (CHLE: down $0.19 to $3.36, Research, Estimates).
The market has not seen the launch of more than four IPOs in one day since Dec. 7, 2000, when seven companies initially offered shares, according to Dealogic, a firm that tracks IPO data.
The strong day and recent weeks for IPOs could help translate into an even more monumental month. November could end having launched the most IPOs since November 2000, when there were 21, according to IPOhome. June 2001 came the closest so far, with 15.
Three other IPOs planned for Tuesday, software provider Open Solutions, SYNNEX Corp., a wholesale distributor of tech products, and biotech firm Tercica, didn't get priced. But it's possible that any or all of the three will go out Wednesday, according to Kathy Smith, portfolio manager for Renaissance Capital's IPO Plus Fund.
Nexstar Broadcasting Group (NXST: down $0.54 to $12.71, Research, Estimates), which operates 27 TV stations, had planned to offer shares initially Tuesday but actually started trading Monday. Shares of Nexstar slipped 5.3 percent Tuesday, after dropping 5.4 percent Monday from its initial $14-a-share offering.
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