As we discussed around this time last year, many are eagerly awaiting the arrival of one of the world's hottest--and still up-and-coming--companies to go public, so they can get in on the explosive first-day/week earnings of the initial public offering.
We cautioned those Average Joes with this piece of advice:
While enticing to "get in on the ground floor," it's important to remember that regular Joe investors aren't the type boosting these IPOs to double their asking price on the first day. It's major firms and big time investors that drive these prices, while the average investor gets in only after the price has ballooned. Nevermind that the Facebook IPO will be well over $100 a share, something an at-home investor type can only realistically purchase a handful of. A better bet is to short these tech stocks after they inflate.While we still believe as much today, the situation changes somewhat if that IPO opens at $28-$35, as it is now projected, rather than the $100 range which we expected. That doesn't mean that the stock doesn't reach the century mark per share before the public truly has a crack at it (all the excitement over this particular IPO, which is more than we've seen since Google went public, makes this feasible), but still, it's easier to stomach trying to get in on the ground floor when the ground floor is not so outrageously out of the common folk's range.
We still plan on sitting this one out--pretty much the same way we do with our actual bare bones Facebook page, but will definitely stay tuned for more status updates.
