With oil at around $55 per barrel and headed higher, the IPO calendar is attracting companies from the energy sector–one of the best-performing for over a year.

From January 1, 2004, through March 31, 2005, the IPO production line has turned out 273 new issues, according to available records. This figure excludes eight unit offerings consisting of common stock and warrants. Of the 273 IPOs that have come to market, 17 IPOs were from the energy sector. That’s not a lot of traffic by anybody’s standards. But consider their aftermarket performances.

As of March 31, 2005, those 17 IPOs from the energy sector were up an average 49.8 percent from their initial offering prices. And this was against a falling stock market.

The Nasdaq Composite Index, the barometer of the IPO market, ended at 1,999.23 on March 31, 2005, down from a close of 2,003.37 on December 31, 2003, for a decline of 0.2 percent over the last 15 months.

Here’s what the 2004/2005 IPO energy sector looked like on March 31, 2005:

·          Number of IPOs priced: 17

·          Up from their initial offering prices: 16

·          Down from its initial offering price: 1

·          Average aftermarket performance: Up 49.8 percent

Here’s what the total 2004/2005 IPO market looked like on March 31, 2005:

·          Number of IPOs priced: 273

·          Up from their initial offering prices: 177

·          Down from their initial offering prices: 95

·          Unchanged from its initial offering price: 1

·          Average aftermarket performance: Up 21.28 percent

None of the energy sector’s IPOs caught people’s attention like the Google IPO did when the company went public, nor like the Dolby Laboratories IPO did when it scored an opening-day gain of 35 percent, nor like the International Securities Exchange IPO when it popped for an opening-day gain of 68.9 percent.

Who can get excited when a coal company’s IPO scores an opening-day gain of 19.4 percent? (Hello, Alpha Natural Resources, which is the recycled Pittston Coal Company.)

And who cries in his beer when an offshore oil and gas IPO flops with an opening-day loss of 2.6 percent? (That was W&T Offshore’s IPO.)

Well, the coal company’s IPO was the new-issues winner for the first quarter of 2005. Alpha Natural’s stock closed at $28.67 per share—up 50.9 percent from its initial offering price of $19 per share.

And Hiland Partners, a limited partnership gathering natural gas, was the second-best performer among 2005’s first-quarter IPOs. Hiland’s stock closed at $33.50 per share—up 48.9 percent from its initial offering price of $22.50 per share.

This brings us to the IPO calendar for the week of April 4, 2005. It has just one deal. It is not an energy company. But it is a company that has been servicing the energy industry for well over 100 years: FreightCar America, right out of America’s smokestack past.

Inside this week’s IPO calendar

- FreightCar America plans to price 6 million shares at $16 to $18 each to raise $102 million. The company will offer 5.1 million shares and selling shareholders will offer 900,000 million shares.The IPO is to start trading on Wednesday, April 6.

Based in Chicago, Illinois, FreightCar America manufactures aluminum-bodied railcars in North America. The company specializes in the production of coal-carrying railcars. It also refurbishes and rebuilds railcars and sells forged, cast, and fabricated parts for all of the railcars. The company’s predecessors date back to 1901. It was owned by Bethlehem Steel from 1923 to 1991. FreightCar America has about 1,133 employees.

The underwriters:UBS Investment Bank is the lead manager. Acting as co-managers are Jefferies and CIBC World Markets.

Venture capitalists: Caravelle Investment Fund, John Hancock Life Insurance, Trimaran Investments II, Hoffman Investment, Trimaran Advisors, USBancorp Trust and Financial Services, and Trimaran Fund Management.

52-week percentage changes

Dow Jones Transportation Service Index: up 11.25 percent

Nasdaq Composite Index: down 0.78 percent

The FreightCar America IPO doesn’t have the snap, crackle, and pop of the Google deal. But hey, it’s a start for the IPO market in 2005’s second quarter. And right now, energy—and anything close to it— appears to be a pretty good place to be.