Four IPOs Get Mixed Reception

Four initial public stock offerings got a mixed reception from investors Thursday, despite the tailwind of the day’s big market rally.

The performance of the shares suggested that investors remained leery of taking a chance on higher-risk securities after Wall Street’s steep fall in recent weeks, analysts said.

The initial public offerings of Golfsmith International Holdings Inc., Volcano Corp. and Synchronoss Technologies Inc. got off to a bad start Wednesday, when the deals were priced. All three raised less money than they hoped.

Shares of Austin, Texas-based Golfsmith, the largest U.S. golf equipment retailer, sold for $11.50, well below the company’s target of $14 to $16.

Volcano, a Rancho Cordova, Calif.-based maker of medical devices to treat heart disease, also fell short, selling shares for $8 each instead of the expected $10 to $12.

Bridgewater, N.J.-based Synchronoss, whose software helps process Internet orders for phone companies, priced its IPO at $8 a share, compared with the range of $9 to $11 it expected.

“With a weak market, people aren’t going to jump into unproven securities,” said Phil Stiller, an analyst at Greenwich, Conn.-based Renaissance Capital Corp., which manages the IPO Plus Aftermarket Fund. “To get the deals done, people have had to discount the prices a little bit.”

In their first trading sessions Thursday, Volcano (ticker symbol: VOLC) rose 80 cents to $8.80 and Synchronoss (SNCR) gained 85 cents to $8.85, but Golfsmith (GOLF) fell 40 cents to $11.10.

Another IPO, Houston Wire & Cable Co. (HWCC), fared better. The Houston-based distributor of specialty wire and cable to U.S. electric companies sold shares at $13 on Wednesday, the middle of the expected range of $12 to $14.

Houston Wire had a solid debut Thursday, surging $2.21 to $15.21.

Another of this week’s IPOs, ethanol producer VeraSun Energy Corp. (VSE), pulled back $2.85 to $27.15 on Thursday after rocketing on its first trading day Wednesday.

VeraSun, based in Brookings, S.D., sold 18.25 million shares at $23 each Tuesday. The stock leaped to close at $30 on Wednesday, registering strong demand from investors eager to buy into an alternative-energy play, analysts said. The company is the second-largest ethanol producer after Archer Daniels Midland Co.