| The Winners Are [related data: Best & Worst] Believe it or not! The majority of the year's winners included stocks from industries other than Internet. In times of extreme uncertainty, investors flocked to issues that hailed from old-day industries for security. Moreover, stocks that actually yielded earnings were traditional safe havens for investors that went through the wringer for most of the spring demise that tech stocks started to endure. "It is telling that some of the most successful performers came from long ignored old line companies with products that investors could get their hands on and income statements that showed actual earnings," said Renaissance. "The common denominator of the top performers of the year was their debut dates." The report added: "Every one of the top five deals by total return and aftermarket return priced during the first market correction that took place from mid March through May. Because these deals priced during turbulent market conditions, IPO valuations were low." Some of the year's big winners included: Embarcadero Technologies (ticker: EMBT), a database management software provider for e-business clientele is one of the year's biggest winners with a gain of 320%. The stock got off to a solid start after it gained 60% on its first day. DLJ served as the lead manager on the $42 million underwriting. Sonus Networks (ticker: SONS), a voice over Internet telephony equipment firm notched a gain of 252% and is one of the year's major winners. Through underwriters led by Goldman Sachs, Sonus notched up a first day return of 119% after it debuted in late May. Speech recognition software stocks did get a boost from some solid entrances from Nuance Communications (ticker: NUAN) and SpeechWorks International (ticker: SPWX). Nuance ranks as one of the year's largest gainers (up 136%) and debuted right before the Nasdaq slide started to occur. NUAN appreciated 99% on its first day. The next stock actually held the title as best performer for the year, but most recently it lost a couple of inches. Still, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (ticker: KREM) has prospered in the eyes of Wall Street. Each quarter the rapidly growing donut shop chain has been able to beat out Street expectations and unlike most firms that completed an IPO during the year, KREM utilized deal proceeds to further expand operations and not to pay off debt. Krispy Kreme did take a huge hit in the fall after a highly critical report from Merrill Lynch questioned the firm's outrageous valuation. Of course, KREM may be slightly overvalued and in most cases is a great short, but it still brought a recognized brand to the Street. With the assistance of Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown and J.P. Morgan, KREM rose an impeccable 233% for the year after it started off on the right foot with a rise of 76%. Now, the Losers You wouldn't be surprised to learn that most of the year's duds were from the fall-out in dot.com land. Pets.com (ticker: IPET) has already closed operations while other firms such as VarsityBooks.com (ticker: VSTY) and HeatlhGate Data (ticker: HGAT) are near death. "The worst IPOs of the year come from the ranks of the dot.coms," added a recent report. "Virtually all sported high overhead models with high cash burn rates. Unable to rework their business models to focus on growing profitability rather than mind share, many companies finished the year out of sight, out of mind, and out of money." One fact worth forgetting is that 47 IPOs have finished 90% or more below their first day close and that represented 12% of all deals priced.
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