Headwinds Surface For Groupon & Angie’s List (GRPN, ANGI)

There were some question initial public offerings when it comes to Internet stocks over the last year.  2012 is not starting out too hot for some of these new online stocks.

It turns out that a report from Susquehanna is flagging more business risks for Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) poses more risks as businesses surveyed are signaling that they do not plan to increase their daily deals and many are planning to only run one such offering over the next six months.  While that is very subject to change, the risk is that Groupon could find itself suddenly offering “weekly deals” rather than “daily deals” if the extreme case arises.  If times remain better than they had been it is obvious as to why businesses are not doing this. Groupon was down 7.2% at $19.15 and that makes it a busted IPO under the $20.00 pricing. 

Angie’s List, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI) is getting shelled by about 7.6% down to $14.88 today after its underwriting group gave a less favorable initiation of coverage after the quiet period ended.  Most were the equivalent of “Hold” and the upside targets were not very high.

Groupon has now lost more than one-third of its value from peak above $31.00, and Angie’s List trading under $15 now compares to a post-IPO high of $18.75.

JON C. OGG