It had been a little more than a month since a company had dared to go public on a stateside exchange, but that dry spell ended with a bang when Trulia (TRLA) began trading on Thursday.Underwriters priced the IPO at $17 a share, and the market ate it up. Shares of the real estate website operator opened 30% higher on Thursday morning, closing out the day 41% higher at $24.Trulia has yet to turn a profit, making Thursday's big move more than a bit surprising. Sure, the dot-com is growing quickly. Revenue nearly doubled last year. However, the market is hungry enough for new offerings that it's willing to let Trulia's lack of positive earnings slide.
The IPO party was set to continue on Friday when Smith Electric Vehicles (SMTH) -- a maker of plug-in electric commercial trucks -- would test the market.
Except it's not going to happen. Late Thursday, Smith Electric canceled the IPO.It's not because Smith Electric isn't profitable at the moment. Actually, it's not profitable yet, but the investors who were clamoring for a piece of the potentially promising electric vehicle market didn't seem to mind.
"We received significant interest from potential investors," said Bryan Hansel, Smith's chief executive officer. "However, we were unable to complete a transaction at a valuation or size that would be in the best interests of our company and its existing shareholders."Smith Electric's client list is a who's who of consumer-facing companies that welcome the opportunity to replace their fleets of diesel-slurping vehicles with trucks powered by electricity. As long as the fleet operators have predictable daily routes of no more than 120 miles before returning to the depot, Smith Electric's trucks are surprisingly easy to sell.
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