(March 8) – “Rarely have so many paid so much for so little,” writes Floyd Norris in today’s New York Times.

“It was just a year ago that the market for initial public offerings was at a fever pitch as investors clamored to get on board for what many saw as the ride to sure riches.”

“Getting the right to buy a new issue at the offering price was viewed as a great privilege, and for good reason. Whereas only a few years before it had been major news when a new offering doubled in price the first day, that was viewed as almost routine by last winter.”

“During the most hectic six-week period, from Jan. 31 through March 10, the date the Nasdaq market peaked in value, a total of 77 companies went public. Almost half of them doubled or better by the close of the first day of trading, and nearly a quarter tripled in value.”

“In retrospect, most of those companies — now beleaguered enterprises like the Crayfish Company, Buy.com and Turnstone Systems — never would have gone public if not for the bubble in high-technology stocks. Many are unlikely to survive on their own. Even the few solid companies, like Palm Inc., have been poor investments.”

“The experience shows the great truth of the maxim that timing is everything. By and large, it did not matter whether an investor in new offerings during that period chose good companies or bad ones. If that investor sold quickly, there were big profits to be made. But if that investor hung on, losses piled up on nearly all of the purchases.”