Hoover's IPO Scorecard Reveals Only Slight Growth in 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Number Of U.S. IPOs Increased Just 2% From 2006

AUSTIN, TEXAS - January 4, 2008 - Two hundred and nine companies went public on the major U.S. stock exchanges in 2007, a 2% increase in the number of IPOs over 2006, as reported today by Hoover's IPO Scorecard (www.hoovers.com/ipo/scorecard). The 209 IPOs offered on the NYSE, NASDAQ and AMEX in 2006 raised $48.6 billion, compared to 205 IPOs in 2006, which raised $41.1 billion. Hoover's, Inc. (http://www.hoovers.com), a D&B company, provides its customers the fastest path to business with insightful information about companies, industries and key decision makers, along with the powerful tools to find and connect to the right people to get business done.

Year-in-Review from Hoover's IPO Scorecards

Q1 2007: Forty-four companies went public on the major U.S. stock exchanges this quarter, including National CineMedia, which sells movie theater advertising services. National CineMedia went public in February, raising $798 million. This momentum would appear to continue to build, as both AMC Entertainment and Cinemark Holdings also filed to go public in Q1 2007.

Q2 2007: The silver screen momentum was not to be, as the highly anticipated IPO of Cinemark Holdings took place in April, but closed down on its first day and continues to trade below its offer price. AMC Entertainment formally withdrew its scheduled $750 million IPO in mid-June. There were 57 IPOs this quarter, including the $1.3 billion IPO of cell phone operator MetroPCS Communication in April, and June's $4.1 billion IPO of The Blackstone Group, a massive private equity firm that owns stakes in more than 40 companies; it became the sixth largest IPO in U.S. history.

Q3 2007: Thirty-eight companies held their IPOs this quarter, including VMWare, which debuted in August. The company claimed the best first-day gain of 2007 (closing up 76%), but was quickly overtaken by athenahealth's September IPO, which closed up 97% on its first day. In addition, five companies that filed to go public this quarter filed to raise more than $1 billion each, including Classmates Media Corporation, which runs the Classmates.com site.

Q4 2007: Seventy companies went public this quarter, but turbulence in the broader market kicked in, leading to reduced pricing, skittish investors and IPO postponements and withdrawals. Classmates Media Corporation was one of those withdrawals, pulling the plug on its IPO because of market conditions. The highly anticipated IPO of on-demand software firm NetSuite Inc. (backed by Oracle Corp.'s CEO Larry Ellison) took place the week before Christmas in a Dutch auction-style offering. The auction format led to high bids, causing the company to open flat with its offer price, at $26 per share, but it closed up 37% above that at the end of the first day.

Additional Findings from Hoover's IPO Scorecard for Q4 2007:

• Best First-Day Gain: Longtop Financial Technologies Limited 85%
• Worst First-Day Drop: Agria Corporation -27%

• Top 10 Best-Returning IPOs for Q4:

  	Offer	Q4 Close	Return
  MSCI Inc.	$18.00	$38.40	113%
  American Public Education, Inc.	$20.00	$41.78	109%
  Genoptix, Inc.	$17.00	$30.70	81%
  Rubicon Technology, Inc.	$14.00	$23.75	70%
  China Digital TV Holding Co., Ltd	$16.00	$26.98	69%
  Titan Machinery Inc.	$8.50	$13.10	54%
  NetSuite Inc.	$26.00	$39.18	51%
  MedAssets, Inc.	$16.00	$23.94	50%
  AirMedia Group Inc.	$15.00	$22.38	49%
  MAP Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	$12.00	$17.51	46%

"2007 saw a mixed bag of IPOs as far as industry classification goes, but by Q4, investors were showing a strong preference for China-based public offerings, in part due to uncertainty about the overall strength of the U.S. economy," said Tim Walker, Hoover's industry expert. "With mortgage sector woes and prospects of slower economic growth in the U.S., investors began looking overseas. In fact, twenty-percent of the IPOs in Q4 were China-based and many posted double-digit first-day gains."

Hoover's delivers comprehensive insight and analysis about the companies, industries and people you need to know and analyzes the IPO market daily to produce the quarterly IPO Scorecard. Each IPO Scorecard includes an assortment of facts selected by Hoover's editors for those following the IPO market, including the best- and worst-performing IPOs, the biggest one-day jumps and drops in the first day of trading, and a breakdown of IPOs by industry sector.

About Hoover's, Inc.

Hoover's, a D&B company, provides its customers the fastest path to business with insightful information about companies, industries and key decision makers, along with the powerful tools to find and connect to the right people to get business done. Hoover's provides this information for sales, marketing, business development, and other professionals who need intelligence on U.S. and global companies, industries, and the people who lead them. Hoover's unique combination of editorial expertise and one-of-a-kind data collection with user-generated and company-supplied content gives customers a 360-degree view and competitive edge. This information, along with powerful tools to search, sort, download and integrate the content, is available through Hoover's (http://www.hoovers.com), the company's premier online service. The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

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