IPO offerings to make resurgence

With new public stock offerings for guitar maker Fender and travel booking website Kayak on deck this week, there are signs demand is starting to grow for IPOs after a five-week freeze triggered by a steep decline in financial markets and exacerbated by Facebook's rocky May 18 debut.

Five companies are scheduled to go public this week alone, including Fender, Kayak and Palo Alto Networks, a maker of computer network security products. After Facebook, just four deals made it to market by the end of June, marking the longest stretch without an initial public offering of stock since August-October 2011.

The resurgence now is a welcome indication that dealmakers are regaining confidence about raising money through IPOs. But the situation is far from rosy.

There are 68 companies expected to raise $14.4 billion through IPOs later this year, according to research firm Dealogic. Last year at this time, there were almost double that amount of companies -- 135, looking to raise $23.6 billion.

"If the market stays healthy -- the overall market -- I think we will see a lot of IPO activity in the second half," said Nick Einhorn, an analyst with Renaissance Capital of Greenwich, Conn.

There are high hopes for Fender Musical Instruments Corp., maker of famous Fender Stratocaster electric guitars, which is looking to raise up to $160.5 million. -- AP