September 29, 2007

Babcock & Brown IPO-ed on Thursday, opening at $23.00. It dropped to close at $22.70. I actually bought a few shares for my real-life portfolio at $22.58, so that’s the price I’ll use for this portfolio. Duff and Phelps’ offering went live Friday, opening at $16, and closing at $18.35. When I checked the price during the day, it was at $18.25, so that’s where I priced my shares for this portfolio. Bioheart delayed their IPO until at least next week, so I’m not going to “buy” any of their shares.

I’m a little surprised by the fact that perception of Babcock & Brown’s IPO was that it was overpriced. It really seems like a bit of a mistake for the underwriters (Morgan Stanley, Citicorp, Merrill Lynch, and Credit Suisse) to have made. However, it is only about a 1% drop at this point, so maybe that’s not too bad for an IPO in this market.

Action	Symbol	Amount	Price	Extended Value
SELL	VEIEX	306	32.32	9889.92
BUY	FLY	443	22.58	10002.94
SELL	VEIEX	306	32.83	10045.98
BUY	DUF	550	18.25	10037.50
Cash				25.32

“In other news” the Dollar hit another new low against the Euro, generally attributed to a weak inflation report, despite the Fed’s rate cut(s). So, investors are expecting the likelihood of another rate cut to increase. All the more reason to look at foreign markets for at least the next few months. Once the Dollar stabilizes, it’s probably going to be a good time for long-term investors to buy US stocks again. However, since this project is only 3 months long, I’m going to see what I can do with ADR shares (remember, this project disallows currency trading, and is restricted to NYSE and NASDAQ listings)