Business Commons^™

The long-run underperformance of initial public offerings (IPOs) is heavily documented; however, researchers have been unable to consistently determine which IPO characteristics affect the level of underperformance. Our main contribution is to examine this relation using a unique, alternative approach that concentrates on pairs of IPOs issued on the same day, thereby avoiding many of the biases (e.g., overlapping time periods) embedded in previous studies. Over the period 1986 to 2000 we find that issues with lower initial returns, higher quality underwriters, and/or high technology status tend to have higher long-run returns. Note: Link is to the article on the …

The opportunity cost of going public is directly related to the level of information asymmetry associated with the issuing firm. Independent third parties, such as underwriters and venture capitalists, are believed to mitigate this asymmetry through certification, thereby reducing this cost. Existing studies illustrate that higher quality underwriters provide increased certification value; however, current research is essentially mute with regard to the effect of venture capitalist quality. We fill this gap, finding that higher quality venture capitalists also provide incremental certification value relative to those of lower quality. Additionally, we suggest that the most appropriate measure of venture capitalist quality …

We examine underpricing, long-run returns, lockup periods, and gross spreads for penny stock IPOs over the 1990-1998 period. We find that penny stock IPOs have higher initial returns than ordinary IPOs, but significantly worse long-run underperformance. We also find that penny stock IPOs have longer lockup periods and larger gross spreads. To explore the effect of potential market manipulation, we examine IPOs led by a group of underwriters that were the subject of SEC enforcement actions and/or other penalties. Penny stock issues led by these banks are particularly underpriced and underperform ordinary IPOs led by other underwriters. Note: Link is …

Many existing theories attempt to explain initial public offering (IPO) underpricing by suggesting that underwriters purposefully set offer prices below market value. These theories implicitly assume that underwriters have perfect foresight and can, with complete accuracy, place a value on issuing firms. This chapter evaluates this assumption by comparing offer prices set by underwriters to prices from three objective, valuation-based approaches. Relative to these estimates, the offer prices chosen by underwriters result in lower levels of underpricing, suggesting that the prices underwriters select are actually value creating for issuing firms in that they reduce the opportunity cost of issuance. Within …