Forget Facebook (FB): IPOs Make a Comeback

Only eight companies went public on U.S. stock market exchanges in the two months that followed Facebook’s (Nasdaq: FB) ill-fated initial public offering on May 18. This week alone, the post-Facebook IPO tally nearly doubled.

Seven IPOs priced this week, capped by AmREIT (NYSE: AMRE) and Del Friscos (Nasdaq: DFRG) today. The others were E2open (Nasdaq: EOPN), Hyperion Therapeutics (Nasdaq: HPTX), Northern Tier Energy (NYSE: NTI), Natural Grocers (NYSE: NGVC) and Chuy’s Holdings (Nasdaq: CHUY).

Northern Tier Energy held the biggest IPO. The oil refining and retailing business based in the Midwest sold 16.25 million shares at $14 a pop. The $14 price was well shy of Northern Tier’s expected $19-to-$21 range. So far that seems like a good decision – shares have only risen to $14.60 in their first two trading days.

Natural Grocers and Chuy’s Holdings have performed the best of the seven IPOs. Both were up more than 28% in their first few days of trading.

The seven IPOs this week come on the heels of the four IPOs that priced last week. At least four more new stocks are set to debut next week.

Clearly, the IPO market seems to have finally awoken from its post-Facebook slumber.