Leader: 'Tisn't the season for IPOs

Despite excitement about the growing number of IPOs this year, so far the market's looking pretty grim for new issues.

Some examples...

First there are the companies cutting their initial share prices. These include Linux company Linspire - formerly known as Lindows - Virgin Mobile and US software services company RightNow Technologies.

Then there are those that have cancelled their debuts all together, such as nanotechnology company Nanosys or antispam software firm Brightmail, which decided to take a different route and be acquired by public company Symantec.

And finally there are those that have seen lacklustre bidding on their shares since their opening, including the aforementioned RightNow and Salesforce.com, whose share price has fallen considerably since its impressive June debut.

LCD flat-panel maker LG.Philips even saw its share price drop on the first day of trading in late July.

Of course we can't forget Google. Though it's the biggest name of the bunch, and may well do OK once floated, there have already been difficulties with the SEC about the company's distribution of options to employees that's delaying things a bit.

And Google's offering, currently set to be priced at $108 to $135 per share, is quite expensive. In a recent poll of silicon.com readers, 85 per cent of respondents said they wouldn't buy Google shares at those prices, either because they were just too expensive or because they think all internet companies are a bad investment right now. Ten per cent said that was a fair price and a mere five per cent said they'd pay even more. (Good luck to you!)

There have been more IPO filings this year than in the previous two - about 200 so far in the US versus a total of 106 in 2003 and 125 in 2002. And, who knows, a handful of those may do pretty well.

But quantity does not mean quality.

Firms still planning floats, such as veteran ISP PlusNet, as well as would-be investors who've been feeling those à-la-1999 adrenalin rushes, would be smart to adjust their expectations.