Like budget-minded brides avoiding the June rush, four dot-com IPOs are set to walk down the aisle in May. And one of them, Blue Nile, has even made a name for itself as the online place where tech-savvy young men buy design-it-yourself engagement rings – usually with help from the bride-to-be – at prices in the four figures and up.The other dot-com IPOs on May’s forward calendar so far: Alibris, Salesforce.com, and Shanda Interactive.It might seem odd to find just eight deals on May’s forward IPO calendar (and half of them are dot-coms) as the second week of the month gets under way. But don’t despair. April’s new-issues calendar filled up during the month. There’s hope for May.Let’s take a quick look back at the April IPO calendar. At the beginning of the month, the calendar had only five IPOs with offering dates. Three companies were set to make their debuts during the week of April 5: Arbor Realty Trust, JED Oil, and Memory Pharmaceuticals. The next week, which began on Monday, April 12, there were none. During the week of April 19, only two IPOs were on the forward calendar: Gander Mountain and ProCentury. Those five deals for April were expected to raise $342.5 million. That was it!But it was a far different story by the close of business on Friday, April 30. When the curtain came down on April, investment bankers had priced 12 IPOs during the month. They raised $1.74 billion. With that perspective, take a closer look at May. The eight IPOs with offering dates in May are expected to raise $3.78 billion – more than twice the total for April’s IPOs.The May IPO calendar in a nutshell

• Three IPOs are expected during this week, May 10: Atlas America (a carryover from last week), NuVasive, and Shanda Interactive.
• Three IPOs are expected during the week of May 17: Alibris, Animas, and Blue Nile.
• Two IPOs are expected during the week of May 24: Genworth Financial and Salesforce.com.

During the “insanity-dot com” era of late 1998 through mid-2000, it seemed as if 10 to 15 Internet-related IPOs would debut each week. Most of them had little to no revenue, millions of dollars of losses, and a lot of hope. In today’s IPO market, the dot-coms are back – with a difference. Today’s dot-com IPO has revenue and it’s turned the corner to profit from loss. None of the deals on the IPO calendar are expected to produce opening-day moonshots with gains of 100, 200, or 300 percent above their initial offering prices.This time around, the dot-com IPO has a more conservative bent. Four Internet-related IPOs made their debuts in December 2003 and only one so far in 2004.In December 2003

• Ctrip.com International, a China-based online consolidator of hotel accommodations and airline tickets, priced its IPO at $18 per share on December 8, 2003. The IPO sold high at $43.05, low at $24 and recently closed at $25.30 per share – up 40.6 percent from its initial offering price.
• Kintera, a San Diego-based provider of Internet-software solutions for fund raising for non-profit organizations, priced its IPO at $7 per share on December 18, 2003. The IPO sold high at $18, low at $7.91, and recently closed at $10.12 per share – up 44.6 percent from its initial offering price.
• Orbitz, a Chicago-based online travel company priced its IPO at $26 per share on December 16, 2003. The IPO sold high at $30.75, low at $20.72, and recently closed at $22.64 per share – down 12.9 percent from its initial offering price.
• Provide Commerce, a San Diego-based operator of an e-commerce marketplace for fresh flowers and other perishable goods, priced its IPO at $15 per share on December 16, 2003. The IPO sold high at $26.75, low at $12.78, and recently closed at $18.21 per share – up 21.4 percent from its initial offering price.

In 2004

• Marchex, a Seattle-based provider of technology services to merchants engaged in online transactions, priced its IPO at $6.50 per share on March 30. The IPO sold high at $14.49, low at $7.58, and recently closed at $12.79 per share – up 96.8 percent from its initial offering price.

The Internet-related IPO scorecard (as of May 6)4 up1 downAverage gain: 22.8 percentSince December 8, 2003:Dow Jones Internet Services: up 20.5 percentNasdaq Composite Index: down 0.6 percentIt’s this type of favorable aftermarket performance that has opened the door for other dot-coms to go public. Since January, about 10 Internet-related companies have filed to go public. The best known was last week’s Google filing. One of the most delightful songs in the classic Broadway musical Camelot is “The Lusty Month of May.” That theme historically has held true for May in the IPO market.Since 1970, the May IPO production line has been slightly “above average.” From May 1970 through May 2003, 1,026 IPOs were priced, according to available records. To put it in perspective, the month of May alone accounted for 8.89 percent – OK, call it 9 percent – of the grand total of 11,533 IPOs priced during the 34 years from 1970 through 2003. An “average” month during that same time span produced 8.3 percent of the annual IPO traffic.The busiest May on record was in 1996, when 97 IPOs were priced. The slowest May on record was in 1975, when no IPOs were priced.Last year, May 2003, two IPOs were priced.This year, May started off with a bang. During the week of May 3, bankers priced Greenhill, Origen Financial, and InfraSource Services.This week’s IPO calendar, May 10, lists another three IPOsFirst is Atlas America. Based in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, Atlas is an independent energy company developing oil and natural gas. The company plans to price its IPO of 2.3 million shares at $14 to $16 each to raise $34.5 million. Friedman Billings Ramsey and KeyBanc Capital Markets are the co-lead managers. Atlas America reported total revenues of $105.7 million and net income of $13.9 million for the year ending September 30, 2003. The company reported total revenues of $99.3 million and net income of $7.2 million for the year ending September 30, 2002. Formed in 1968, Atlas America has 208 employees.At press time, bankers planned to price the deal on Monday evening, May 10, to trade the following day.52-week percentage changesDow Jones Pipelines Index: up 18.9 percentNasdaq Composite: up 28.6 percentThe buzzOn the plus side, Atlas America is growing at a modest pace. And it’s profitable. The minus: Atlas America’s industrial sector – pipeline – has been underperforming the overall stock market. The deal had been on last week’s IPO calendar, but was bumped into this week.The second company on this week’s list is medical device company NuVasive, based in San Diego. It develops products for the surgical treatment of spine disorders. NuVasive plans to price its IPO of 6.5 million shares at $11 to $13 each to raise $78 million. Banc of America and Lehman Brothers are the co-lead managers. Acting as co-managers are Thomas Weisel Partners and William Blair. NuVasive reported total revenues of $22.7 million and a net loss of $10.1 million for the year ending December 31, 2003. The company reported total revenues of $12.3 million and a net loss of $15.1 million for the year ending December 31, 2002. As of December 31, 2003, NuVasive had an accumulated deficit of $64.3 million. Formed in July 1997, NuVasive has 76 employees.At press time, bankers planned to price the deal on Wednesday evening, May 12, to trade the following day.52-week percentage changesDow Jones Advanced Medical Supplies Index: up 32.3 percentNasdaq Composite: up 28.6 percentThe buzzOn the plus side, NuVasive’s revenue is growing. Its industrial sector has been outperforming the overall stock market. The minus: Since it inception in 1997, NuVasive has never been profitable. The company reported an accumulated deficit of about $64.3 million.This week’s dot-comerShanda Interactive Entertainment, based in Shanghai, operates online games in China that users play on the Internet. Shanda plans to price its IPO of 17.3 million American Depositary Shares at $13 to $15 each to raise $242.2 million. The company will offer 9.6 million shares and selling shareholders will offer 7.7 million shares.Goldman Sachs (Asia) is the lead manager. Acting as co-managers are Bear Stearns, CLSA/CIBC World Markets, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Piper Jaffray. Shanda reported net revenues of $72.5 million and net income of $32.9 million for the year ending December 31, 2003. The company reported net revenues of 600 million renminbi ($72.5 million) and net income of 139.3 million renminbi ($16.8 million) for the year ending December 31, 2003. Shanda reported revenues of 4.6 million renminbi ($555,421) and net income of 3.2 million renminbi ($386,380) for the year ending December 31, 2002. Formed in 1999, Shanda has 931 employees.At press time, bankers planned to price the deal on Wednesday evening, May 12, to trade the following day.52-week percentage changesDow Jones Software Index: up 9.3 percentNasdaq Composite: up 28.6 percentThe buzzOn the plus side, Shanda International is a fast-growing, profitable company. And Internet-related IPOs have done well in the market. The stock is expected to trade on the Nasdaq market. It will not be listed on any other stock exchange, so there will be no week-long delay between the time the price is set for the stock and when it starts trading.The Minus: Some IPO buyers don’t like to see insiders selling stock along with the company.The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index recently was hit by a sharp sell-off. The Hang Seng plunged from a March 1 close of 13,918 to an April 20 close of 11,943 – down 14.2 percent. Over the last few days, the Hang Seng has recovered to recently close at 12,010. This has spooked IPO investors.

So what do IPO investors need to keep in mind as they browse through the offerings for the second week of May? The outlook is favorable. The numbers are way ahead of this time last year. As of Friday’s close on May 7, bankers had priced 56 IPOs. At this time last year, only five IPOs had made it to market.