It has been EXTREMELY quiet on the IPO front this year, with the exception of a few standouts such as Visa (V) and Intrepid Potash (IPI).. I’ll throw Colfax (CFX) in there as well considering it’s held up remarkably well during the market meltdown over the past few weeks and is poised to break out of a base.

Another IPO worth keeping an eye on in the coming weeks that began trading today is Energy Recovery (ERII), a California based company that manufactures devices for better efficiency during the water desalination process.  The company says its PX devices (its core product is the PX Pressure Exchanger) reduce the energy required for desalination by 60%.  It’s a small, but growing company in what will be an industry that will attract quite a bit of attention in the coming years.. the water treatment industry.  Clean, drinking water is one vital resource that is nearly constant in supply (around 3% of total water) and soaring in demand (doubling every 20 years).  Think oil is a problem?  Water will be much more so and the companies leading the initiative to increase supplies of clean drinking water will thrive. 

The stock priced at 8.50 raising 68 million for the company, but opened trading well above that at 11, before ultimately succumbing to overall market pressure, finishing the day more than 10% off the open at 9.83.  As I do with all IPO’s and new ETF’s, I’ll let it trade for at least two weeks to see if it can carve out a bullish technical formation, then get in on any breakout.

Fortunately I don’t need to dive into the detailed analysis here, because a few have already done it so I’ll direct you there.

Jeffrey McLarty of Blue Moat "A Buy At the Right Price"
http://blog.bluemoat.com/?p=221

Zachary Scheidt at Zach Stocks "Good IPO in a Sea of Losses"
http://zachstocks.com/2008/07/energy-recovery-inc-erii-good-ipo-in-a-sea-of-losses/