The Five Biggest IPOs of 2014

This year has been the busiest for initial public offerings since the dot-com era of 1999 - 2001. And the biggest IPOs of 2014 have raised some serious cash.
Biggest IPOs
The 2014 IPO calendar has been crowded, with 135 offerings to date. That's a 65% gain from 2013. Those 135 IPOs have raised a total of $29 billion, which is also an increase of 55% from 2013.

And 2014's IPOs have far outpaced the amounts previous years' offerings have raised, with price tags as high as $2.4 billion.

That $29 billion hasn't exactly been spread out evenly. In fact, 28% of this year's total IPO money has been raised by the top five companies.

Here's a look at the biggest IPOs of 2014 and how they've fared since they've hit the market.

IPO Market 2014: Biggest IPOs to Date

Biggest IPOs of 2014, No. 5: Parsley Energy Inc. (NYSE: PE) raised $925 million when it went public on May 22.

Parsley Energy is an exploration and production company that works in the Permian Basin. According to Westwood Holdings Group's (NYSE: WHG) Portfolio Manager Bill Costello, shale energy companies that operate in focused regions have been a popular play for investors in 2014.

"It's the flavor of the day," Costello told The Wall Street Journal. "It's easy to understand - you're in one basin, in one play, it's repeatable."

Parsley priced its shares at $18.50, which was above the company's estimated range of $15 to $18. The company had initially planned on selling 43.9 million shares in its IPO, but ended up offering 50 million.

On its first day of trading, PE stock climbed 20%. Today, PE stock trades at $22.78, which is 23% higher than its offer price. Credit Suisse Group (NYSE ADR: CS), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) served as lead underwriters on the deal.

Biggest IPOs of 2014, No. 4: IMS Health Holdings Inc. (NYSE: IMS) is a global IT company that provides clients operating in the healthcare industry with industry data and consulting services. IMS hit the New York Stock Exchange on April 3.

Through the IPO, IMS raised $1.3 billion by selling 65 million shares for $20 each. Initially, the company had set a price range of $18 to $21 for its shares. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley were the lead underwriters on the deal.

"They have a very stable, large, profitable legacy business, and they're looking to cross-sell additional products and value-added services into their existing client base," Allianz Global Investors' Portfolio Manager John Schroer told The Journal before the IPO.

IMS stock jumped 15% in its first day of trading. Today, the stock is up 17% from its initial offer price.

But there were a few IPOs so far in 2014 that trumped PE and IMS. Check out the year's top three...

Biggest IPOs of 2014, No. 3: JD.com Inc. (Nasdaq ADR: JD) raised $1.8 billion in its IPO by selling 93.7 million shares at $19 per share. JD had initially planned to raise $1.6 billion by pricing its shares between $16 and $18 shares.

JD.com is the largest online direct-sales business in China and reported revenue of $11.5 billion in 2013. While the company does huge revenue totals, it actually had a net loss of $8 million in 2013. Revenue growth was 68% in 2013 and 96% in 2012.

Many analysts viewed the JD.com IPO as a preview to the Alibaba IPO, which is expected to be one of the largest initial public offerings of all time when it hits the market in late 2014. Alibaba is the largest e-commerce company in China, the world's second-largest e-commerce market.

"People are buying JD.com largely on wanting exposure to e-commerce and that's nothing but good news for Alibaba," Citizen.vc's Chief Economist Max Wolff told Bloomberg. "Excitement about Chinese e-commerce is still strong even if excitement about China has calmed down a bit."

JD stock gained 10% in its first day and is currently up 42% from its offer price.

Biggest IPOs of 2014, No. 2: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SC) is a full-service consumer finance company that focuses on vehicle financing and unsecured consumer lending products. It's also the American arm of the Spanish bank Grupo Santander. SC stock debuted on the NYSE on Jan 22.

In its IPO, SC raised $1.8 billion by selling 75 million shares at $24 each. The company had originally planned to sell 65 million shares at a range of $22 to $24.

While SC jumped out of the gate with a 5% gain in the first day, the stock has cooled off. SC stock has dropped 19% from its offer price since January.

Biggest IPOs of 2014, No. 1: Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) made its public debut on April 9, when it raised nearly $2.4 billion by offering 95 million shares for $24. That IPO price was below the company's projected range of $25 to $28.

Ally Financial is a Detroit-based auto-loan provider and is a former subsidiary of General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM). Ally was the recipient of a federal government bailout in 2008, and all the shares offered in its IPO belonged to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Ally Financial did not profit from the deal.

At the time of the deal, Money Morning's Capital Wave Strategist Shah Gilani didn't see ALLY stock as a strong investment.

"I can't believe the U.S. government wants to unleash this on the public," Gilani said. "[Ally] imploded mostly because its subprime unit, Residential Capital LLC, sunk the company. This time Ally is playing the game with subprime auto loans."

ALLY is up slightly from its IPO price at $24.71. In its first day of trading the stock had dipped 4%.

Have you invested in any of this year's biggest IPOs? Do you plan on playing the IPO market in the second half of the year? Join the conversation on Twitter @moneymorning using #IPOs.

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