Big IPO Week on Tap

The on-again, off-again IPO market will spring back to life next week with seven companies slated to go public.

It’s been a month since Hi-Crush Partners (NASDAQ: HCLP) held its initial public offering on August 15. That was the last company to go public on a U.S. market.

But when it rains, it pours on the IPO market. And suddenly, companies are lining up to make their debuts.

Trulia is perhaps the most recognizable company among next week’s seven scheduled IPOs. It’s an online residential real estate marketplace that attracts 22 million monthly visitors.

The company plans to raise $90 million in its IPO by selling 6 million shares at between $14 and $16 a pop. Trulia booked $51 million in sales in the 12 months prior to June 30. The stock will list on the New York Stock Exchange.

The rest of next week’s IPOs are a smorgasbord of anonymous regional banks and small-time realty companies. There’s also an electric-car company in there.

But the “who” of next week’s IPO slate is basically irrelevant. The real story is that companies are going public again.

The IPO market was red-hot from mid-July to mid-August, with 18 new stocks debuting in a matter of four weeks. Prior to that, only four companies had gone public in the two months that followed Facebook’s (NASDAQ: FB) ill-fated IPO on May 18.

Companies were afraid to go public after witnessing such a huge disaster from such a high-profile company – or at least that’s how the thinking went.

The IPO market died down again in the dog days of August – as it often does.

Now that stocks are at four-year highs, IPOs are apparently back.