Since the beginning of this year, there have been eight Israeli offerings on Wall Street, four of them secondary offerings, and the other four IPOs. The division between good and bad looks balanced.
The best secondary offering this year so far was by Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. (Nasdaq:NVMI; TASE:NVMI), which develops metrology systems for the semiconductor industry.
Nova was the best share in 2009, and though it is far from taking that title this year, those who invested in its secondary offering couldn't be happier.
The worst secondary offering this year was by Rosetta Genomics Ltd. (Nasdaq:ROSG), which has developed an algorithm for discovering microRNA sequences. Rosetta Genomics' share price demonstrates once again that the biomed/biotech/biopharama sector is still far from being a safe investment option, something that also came to the fore in D Medical Industries Ltd. (TASE:DMDC) IPO, which lost a third of its value, although its performance since then pales in comparison with that of Vringo. The young start up that developed a platform that enables the creation of a visual ringtone on a mobile telephone lost about a half of its value from the moment of its flotation.
Then came MediaMind and SodaStream, which so far are doing something to restore lost honor. MediamInd, which develops software solutions for managing digital advertising campaigns, has proved that it is possible to make a nice profit out of the Internet, while SodaStream, which produces systems for making fizzy drinks at home, proved that the old economy is alive and kicking, sometimes harder than the new.
However, MediaMind and SodaStream have not managed to boost by very much the average return on Israeli offerings, which is less than 1%.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 17, 2010
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