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Breaking the Facebook curse, two new tech IPOs go public

In a nice sign that the Facebook IPO debacle has finally subsided, tech companies are finally starting to come out publicly again to warm receptions. It's a nice sign that tech IPOs are back again, and Palo Alto and Kayak are both riding the IPO resurgence.

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Richard Drew/AP
In this May 2012 file photo, electronic screens show the price of Facebook shares after they began trading in New York. After the Facebook IPO debacle, tech companies seemed unwilling to face the same possibility. But in a welcomes sign that that attitude may be changing, tech companies Kayak and Palo Alto Networks both have gone public with positive results.

The Facebook IPO debacle has finally subsided and solid companies in the tech space can once again come public with warm receptions.  Palo Alto Networks ($PANW) is up 33% from it's IPO price today as of this writing.  The company is in the business of replacing old and outmoded firewalls for large corporate customers so that security is in place for the more collaborative social networks we use today and all the new Web 2.0 applications.  Social network security is a big deal becoming a bigger deal everyday, this is a mega-trend.  Palo Alto sells their software and hardware products to more than 7700 customers up from just 1800 just two years ago. I haven't done much research on the stock but I like the space and I probably will.

The other IPO is in the web travel space, Kayak ($KYAK).  You're probably familiar with the company and it's service, people seem to like it - the ease of use, the interface etc.  I personally don't like these consumer web names anymore though, especially ones in hyper-competitive fields like this one is in, so I'm probably just a spectator there.

But putting the companies themselves aside for a moment, it's a nice sign that tech IPOs are back again.  Especially at a time like this, what with Spain being beaten to death with its shoes today.

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