Kayak once again getting ready for an IPO debut

Kayak and Palto Alto Networks both ready to begin roadshow, could debut by end of the month

Could Kayak’s long, strange, road to its IPO, which began all the way back in November 2010, finally be coming to an end?

Kayak and Palo Alto Networks are both said to begin their roadshows next week, on their way to finally going public, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

Both companies, whose IPOs are being led by Morgan Stanley, could begin trading publicly by the end of July, according to unnamed sources.

IPOs have been down in recent months according a report from Dow Jones VentureSource.

The second quarter of 2012 saw only 11 venture-backed companies in the United States go public, down from 20 the previous quarter, but those 11 companies raised $7.7 billion through its IPOs, an increase over the $1.7 billion raised by 14 IPOs in the first quarter of 2011.

All in all, not great news for the IPO market.

But last week, there was finally a ray of light: ServiceNow debuted 37% above its IPO price of $18. On Tuesday the stock was up over 2% to end at $25.31.

And, just like that, at least some the cloud that Facebook put over the IPO market has been lifted, and some companies, including Kayak and Palo Alto Networks, seem ready to come outside again.

Kayak’s IPO history

Going public would be a big step for Kayak, which has repeatedly begun, and then stopped, the process of filing its IPO.

It first filed a $50 million IPO way back in November of 2010, but did not go ahead with the deal. It delayed its IPO indefinitely in September 2011, citing Google’s new Flight Search feature as the reason for holding off.

Then, in May, rumors began to swirl around the time of Facebook’s debut that Kayak would be trying once again, riding what were supposed to be Facebook’s long coattails.

Then, after the Facebook debut went so horribly wrong, Kayak seemed to get scared again, and were reportedly going to postpone their debut once again, along with 12 other companies.

Now, finally, they seem to taking that concluding step.

Norwalk, Connecticut-basd Kayak reported a net income of $4.1 million last quarter, compared to a loss of $6.9 million the year before, along with revenue of $73.3 million, an increase of 39% from the previous year.

In April, Santa Clara, California-based Palo Alto Networks filed to raise $175 million in an IPO. Bloomberg reports that the company will list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Neither Palo Alto Networks or Kayak were available for comment.

(Image source: digital-photography-school.com)