The IPO market is slowly emerging from its hibernation that began in mid-March. Three deals are on this week’s new-issues calendar, but the IPO pros don’t see any fireworks.   

Lined up on the launching pad are: DexCom, Earle M. Jorgensen and PRB Gas Transportation. They are hoping to raise a total of $372 million.

During the week that begins April 18, there are just two deals on the calendar. And after that, it is clean and green. The big question lingering in the background is: When will the IPO market start picking up?

The answer: Everything is running to according to script.

In the days before the wild Internet IPO market of the 1999/2000 era, it would take about six weeks for the IPO market to kick back into action after the Nasdaq Composite Index had hit a low.

The most recent example took place in 1998. The Nasdaq Composite topped out in July of that year and took a skid to mid-October. It lost about 30 percent during the downslide. The IPO calendar had been producing about 44 deals per month through July 1998, according to available records. As the stock market fell, the calendar dried up and turned out just five deals in October.

There is always a place on the IPO calendar for name-brand, quality companies. Two of October, 1998’s IPOs fit those requirements. They were the Swissscom AG IPO, which raised $5.6 billion, and the Conoco IPO, which raised $4.4 billion.

About five weeks after the Nasdaq Composite hit its bottom on October 8, 1998, Wall Street investment bankers priced three IPOs on November 11, 1998. That was the most IPOs priced in any single day since August 11, 1998, when five deals made their debuts.

The dynamic trio priced on November 11, 1998, produced some explosive stats: The EarthWeb IPO scored an opening-day gain of 247.8 percent, while the Fox Entertainment IPO raised $2.8 billion, and the MONY Group IPO scored an opening-day gain of 19.7 percent.

And the IPO market was off and running.

Fast forward to the present

The Nasdaq Composite Index broke below the 2,000 level during the week of March 21, 2005. It hit 1,973.88, its 2005 closing low, on March 29. The last time the Nasdaq sold below the 2,000 level was on November 2, 2004, when it closed at 1,984.79. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 2,004.33 the following day, on November 3, 2004, and did not look back for another four months and three weeks.

Now, here’s where we stand on Friday, April 8, 2005. If the Nasdaq Composite Index has hit its bottom, then we can start to look at a more active IPO calendar by the end of April or early May.

From all indications, things are starting to stir in the Land of IPOs. The new-issues calendar is slowly coming together and a lot of companies are filing to go public. Since the beginning of March, 27 companies have filed plans for IPOs and hope to raise $5 billion.

Look at what happened in 1998.

After the Nasdaq Composite bottomed out in October, Wall Street investment bankers went on to price 1,014 IPOs by the end of 2000. They priced 40 IPOs in November and December 1998, 543 IPOs in 1999, and 431 IPOs in 2000.

For now, all we can do is sweat out the next four to five weeks and hope the Nasdaq Composite doesn’t turn south again.

Inside this week’s IPO calendar

- DexCom plans to price 4.7 million shares at $12 to $14 each to raise $61.1 million. The IPO is to start trading on Thursday, April 14.

Based in San Diego, California, DexCom is an early stage medical device company focusing on developing proprietary technology for continuous glucose monitoring systems for people with diabetes. Currently, none of its products have been approved for sale in the U.S. or elsewhere. Formed in 1999, DexCom has about 63 employees.

As of December 31, 2004, DexCom had not generated any revenues and had an accumulated deficit of $52.9 million.

The underwriters: Piper Jaffray and SG Cowen are co-lead managers. Acting as co-managers are William Blair and First Albany.

Venture capitalists: Entities affiliated with The St. Paul Travelers Companies, with Canaan Partners, with Warburg Pincus Private Equity, with The Kaufmann Fund, and with the RWI Group.

52-week percentage change:

Dow Jones U.S. Medical Equipment Index: up 2.23 percent

Nasdaq Composite Index: down 2.49 percent

- Earle M. Jorgensen plans to price 20 million shares at $14 to $16 each to raise $300 million. The IPO is to start trading on Thursday, April 14.

Based in Lynwood, California, Earle M. Jorgensen is a distributor of metal bar and tubular products, which are used by manufacturing companies in the U.S. and Canada. The company sells to over 35,000 customers in such industries as machine tools, industrial equipment, transportation, fluid power, oil, gas and energy, fabricated metal, and construction and agricultural equipment. Formed in 1921, Earle M. Jorgensen has about 1,693 employees.

The underwriters:Credit Suisse First Boston and Goldman Sachs are co-lead managers. Acting as co-managers are Citigroup, ABN AMRO Rothschild, William Blair, and CIBC World Markets.

Venture capitalists: Kelso Investment Associates

52-week percentage change:

Dow Jones U.S. Steel Index: up 53.49 percent

Nasdaq Composite Index: down 2.49 percent

-PRB Gas Transportation plans to price 2 million shares at $5.50 each to raise $11 million. The IPO is to start trading on Wednesday or Thursday of the week of April 11.

Based in Denver, PRB Gas Transportation operates an intrastate natural gas gathering systems. The company began operations in January 2004 with the acquisition of certain operating assets of TOP Gathering. The TOP Gathering system services 56 wells operated by three natural gas producers in the Powder River Basin area of Wyoming. Formed in 2004, PRB Gas Transportation has about four employees. As of December 31, 2004, the company had 13 clients, according to its prospectus.

The underwriters: Gilford Securities is the lead manager.

Venture capitalists: South Lake Financial

52-week percentage change:

Dow Jones U.S. Pipeline Index: up 44.72 percent

Nasdaq Composite Index: down 2.49 percent

Solid instead of sexy

Medical equipment, steel and natural gas pipelines—these are the solid industrial sectors represented by DexCom, Earle M. Jorgensen and PRB Gas Transportation—the three deals on this week’s IPO calendar.

It’s true that these companies don’t have the sex appeal of say, a Google or an eBay. But for savvy IPO investors, there may be something here to like.