According to NASDAQ New Listings Statistic 2008, company registered a total of 177 new listings during 2008 including eight transfers from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), 51 transfers from NYSE Alternext (formerly the American Stock Exchange (Amex), and 26 IPOs.
Market capitalization from NYSE companies that switched to NASDAQ composed $78 billion. In the fourth quarter alone, an unprecedented four NYSE companies switched to NASDAQ including: News Corporation, Automatic Data Processing, Mylan Laboratories and Jack in the Box.
In the fourth quarter Grand Canyon Education went public on NASDAQ during one of the most challenging economic periods on record and managed to become the top performing IPO in 2008 with a total return of 49.3%. In addition, NASDAQ was home to four of the top six best performing IPOs in 2008 including CardioNet, Heritage-Crystal Clean and American Capital Agency.
NASDAQ saw five switches from NYSE Alternext in the fourth quarter. Among them were Seanergy Maritime Corporation , a dry bulk and cargo carrier company based in Greece; and Mid Penn Bancorp, Inc., a bank holding company that engages in full-service commercial banking with a range of financial services.
Two prominent seasoned over-the-counter companies listed on NASDAQ in the fourth quarter. They were Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. and American Italian Pasta Company, Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. celebrated its re-listing on NASDAQ with a remote market close from company headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. American Italian Pasta Company was one the best performing stocks in 2008; its share price increased 220% for the year.
L.D.