Irv DeGraw Quotations

To pick a fiber optic company in the IPO market now is a safe bet.

With the rebound in the semiconductor industry, we think it'll do pretty well.

We're having a science fiction week in investment banking land. They're throwing so much out it's confusing the market.

If they don't make it this week they will probably be pulled off the calendar altogether.

China is viewed and hyped in general as being the greatest and most gigantic market in the world because of demographics and population.

If this were a 10 million share deal you'd see it jump all over the place, even in this market. With a deal of this size, pricing is much closer to fair market.

Here comes a player that's got some substance behind them and it's not a giant deal.

I think there's still some life left in these second-tier optical networking sector. And by (saying) second tier I'm not being disparaging. They don't have breakthrough technology; they're just good production people.

Retail investors are notorious for not getting paper filings because they are difficult to obtain. Most people buy something with no clue as to what they are buying.

Lion was not really too big a surprise. It's a major player in its field ... the leading company in Western Europe.

I would like to think they can get in the 20 percent range, but with that number of shares it could be difficult.

We haven't seen as many of those break through deals the past two weeks, and next week is going to be more of the same. But there's a lot more strength in the biotech market than the last two week's run on the sector would indicate.

We are not used to looking at a company this good.

We see this thing as being an absolute rocket.

This week has more stars in it than we've seen in a long time. It looks like the market's back.

This was really no surprise. They have breakthrough technology and even with the boost in the number of shares sold this looked good.

What's going on is the market running out of gas at the end of the week.

This next week will be very, very quiet. Not only are there very few deals, but these are deals that wouldn't do well in a strong market.

Computer Access Technology is a real sleeper. They make engineering products, hardcore infrastructure, they are growing like a maniac and they are profitable.

February is going to be an extremely weak month. But some of the companies that go out are going to be a lot more interesting and a lot more valuable.

There's going to be a lot of disappointed people tomorrow. But the stock won't be doubled. If they do miss the window it won't be the end of the world.

They are a closet Internet company, much like Fed Ex.

This is a reasonably priced deal, but they have not proven they can be successful outside New York.

This is the early salvo of the next generation of utility firms. It's a pretty big deal but should still have a pretty solid debut.

This is the big surprise of the day, but it's unclear why it's happening.

This deal is really speculative, but the company has enough breakthrough to turn out OK.

This always happens when the market gets flooded. I'm afraid a lot of these deals are getting lost in the shuffle and this is what is happening with Western.

They were having some difficulty getting this deal done because the company is very highly leveraged. It's a very risky deal, and if it weren't for the superstar management team, no one would pay attention to it.

This is a carryover that's already been knocked down and it didn't get any better with age.

They've got all the magic words between appliances and Linux, but there is also some meat behind this. It's not just smoke and mirrors; it's a real business. We're seeing more and more of these companies moving away from ephemeral dot.com businesses and getting into real businesses.

They have a phenomenal growth rate, attractive outlook, and an extraordinary cash burn. They are a momentum play at a time when the market is very skeptical about momentum plays.

This is the kind of stock you buy and put away and in four or five years you'll be very happy.

This is a wait-and-see for us. We are not surprised by a positive first day but are most concerned with how it behaves after the first day.

They're not prepared to handle this kind of volume, and they got squeezed out by the big guys.

There's a pretty decent outlook for the longer term. But then there's $2 million in (annual) revenues - that's not going to do it.

A confusing symbol or name will affect the stock if people don?t know it. It?s a little more likely it will get lost when doing research. As an investor relations guy, you want every small thing in your favor. As an investor, I?d much prefer AT&T being ATT.

It's more than just networking. What they are doing is building Linux appliances, which has real cost-saving (potential) for Web site operators. They are looking to attack the market early and hard. That was the Netscape strategy and the Amazon.com strategy.

Crayfish was the last of the real loony offerings. There was a company that really had nothing behind it.

That's a bruise, but not a deal breaker. But losing it when they did will put somewhat of a crimp in their early valuation.

It's not going to set the world on fire, but it's going to be a good deal.

It's an early-stage company but they have a lot of room to grow.

It's behaving pretty much as we expected. We knew this one was going to go through the roof and it did.

They are in the right sector and it's a relatively small deal, so it should do okay.

Their growth has been modest, but it's the one profitable company expected to come out this week.

I'm expecting a modest first day ... gain of 5 to 15 percent.

I guarantee these guys cut deals that apply for years.

If you're a good deal you're going to get done. If you're not a good, strong, solid deal, there's no hope for you.

Investors are only buying 16 percent of the company and the remaining will be held by Eaton. That's a pretty severe problem.

This is a highly competitive area -- it's a commodity business. The industry is very quickly getting over capacity.

This is a classic Internet company and they will be burning cash like there's no tomorrow. But the deal is programmed to explode on its first day with 3.5 million shares priced between $12 and $14.

The market is just washed out right now. There's no rhyme or reason to the valuations.