Ben Holmes Quotations

What's notable, just looking at the list, is the complete diversity in the names. We've got the whole range.

Semiconductors have sort of come on in terms of the number of filings. Now we have to watch these things price in order to gauge if there's any life in this group.

Networking is the single largest area of growth in this economy. Everything is connected at some point. If you believe the networked world is growing then you have to bet on these networking plays.

Networking is the single largest area of growth in this economy, ... Everything is connected at some point. If you believe the networked world is growing then you have to bet on these networking plays.

Obviously KPMG is an old-line name. It's a really encouraging sign to see it trade to a premium like this. The deals up to now have been really spotty.

Obviously KPMG is an old-line name, ... It's a really encouraging sign to see it trade to a premium like this. The deals up to now have been really spotty.

Plus this is a Robertson Stephens deal and Robbie Stephens is on fire.

Newcastle I liked; I now hate it. It just looks like this thing is in trouble.

I would have liked to have seen more of the proceeds go to reducing their debt load.

Beacon education I wouldn't touch with anybody's money, ... They've done a lot of lending to their customers.

If any sector is working right now, it's oil and gas.

Given the size of Morgan Stanley's position and the impetus to sell these shares, it will take a tremendous amount of aftermarket buying to lift this deal. I just can't see where that will come from.

We expect to see some kind of pop out of these.

I think there's an excitement that surrounds the whole Internet component, even though it's still not the bulk of what they do. But it also becomes an institutional darling almost immediately.

Kraft is unbelievable. There isn't a single company that has managed to assemble a portfolio of brand names like Kraft.

Kraft is the big monster. That's the kind of deal that comes along only once in a while.

Kraft is recession proof. When the market turned down, food became very popular.

Willis is a big insurance brokerage and very profitable,

We'll continue to see energy deals work well,

While every other bank on the street was setting record numbers in their investment banking fees, their M&A (merger and acquisition) activity and their brokerage activity, these guys were losing money.

We're really just looking at the lower end of the quality spectrum. For the most part the (deals are) like the little bits of popcorn left at the bottom of the pan - the half-kernels that didn't pop.

When an offering is priced at $17.50 and runs up 50 percent in a matter of minutes, it's trading forces, not fundamentals, driving it.

This shows a tremendous amount of confidence. That's saying: 'We've got (share) orders, buddy.' I wouldn't be surprised if we saw an increase in shares.

There are a few star deals out there, ... These are a spark to the kindling and that's what we need.

Two deals don't make a trend. We have to step back and wait a couple of days.

We were on the fence until we saw the pricing and that's what attracted us. It's a reasonable discount.

There's nothing out there in tech. It's so dry that it's not funny.

Is it pricey? Probably. But it may be a small price to pay if they keep growing at their present rate or even faster.

It would be difficult to sell it with their most recent period, which is a horrible result. Goldman Sachs is probably saying that this would be a tough story to tell on the road when you have a declining business, when the other investment banks are posting record numbers.

People get crazy, and they lose sight of reality.

Anybody with a shopping cart, ball of twine and pen and paper could do an IPO in this market, ... Pulling your IPO due to market conditions is a pretty poor excuse - this market is as good as it gets.

Align is more of a speculative play, it's a young business and they are nowhere near profitability. But they have a unique product in a large marketplace.

This is going to be a tough sale. They're going to have to tap into their book of relationships to get this deal done.

This is an example of an experienced underwriter timing the deal in all but an absent market. They held back until they knew it was a good market to launch the IPO.

This is a patent they held since 2000, ... Why bring it now?

A lot of people were left holding the burning carcasses of those companies. We've learned a lot in the last few years. The market has become more selective.

They had two price reductions and a size reduction, ... It's like watching a fighter go down and then kicking him a few times.

There were a lot of people putting weight in the IBM decision. But the first company to market with this wins.

It's a very tough environment for drug approvals right now. It might have been as disastrous without the changes.

It pays to take oil and gas out of the ground these days. Any oil and gas deal is going to have some pop.

It looks like there's some market for these retail. I think the deal works really.

It's been a crazy week. Everything that was supposed to work flopped.

The biotech sector is just not proven. It gets started and then it fades.

It's important to note both of those companies are in consumer products -- burritos and sandals. It's not technology -- not routers, or network hardware, or a cellular company that no one had access to early on.

It's what is giving the deal its stability.

It's well within the realm of advancing in a timely fashion, ... For similar deals of this size it's very much on track.

It takes the position of an instant blue chip. It becomes an institutional darling almost immediately.

They've got some very nice venture partners, very solid high visibility investors.

This is just a piece of garbage. I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole.

India is very suddenly a hot theme in our market. We've seen them explode quickly. But the problem is that they can cool off as fast as they heat up.

I don't think anything this week will have more than a small premium.

This is a little more normalized environment. You're not going to see stocks coming out of the gate doubling and tripling anymore.

This is a little more normalized environment, ... You're not going to see stocks coming out of the gate doubling and tripling anymore.

This is a healthy looking market. It's not just energy deals that are working but some tech deals also. There certainly is a better tone in the stock market than a month ago.