US Stem Cell Inc (USRM)

[Dragon Lady]

"IPO during the financial meltdown of 2008 "- the ole myth, IMO, that it was the "financial meltdown" as to why BHRT had one of the worst IPO's in modern market history. (and traded straight down essentially, from day one after the IPO, being delisted almost exactly one yr later)

"well led" companies (the "professor's" term), do what's called "pull the IPO" IMO, if the timing is not right, or the underwriting is not good. BHRT chose, their own choice to move ahead and do the IPO. It was a total bust. The company originally stated is would raise approx. between $45 and $70 million in their IPO. From a web article:
"On Feb. 19, 2008, Bioheart finally made it across the goal line in what is arguably one of the worst IPOs ever — it netted the company only $1.5 million, of which $600,000 came directly from Bioheart founder Henry Leonhardt."
http://venturebeat.com/2007/10/12/i-told-you-so-eat-your-bioheart-out/
http://venturebeat.com/2008/02/19/three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust-bioheart-makes-it-across-the-ipo-goal-line-but-with-little-to-show-for-its-struggles/

By contrast, for yr 2008 there were 43 U.S. IPOs which raised at least $50 million.

Total U.S. IPO proceeds were $28 billion, in 2008.

" 87 U.S. companies filed for IPOs (2008) but then withdrew this year" (that's typical for well-led companies IMO, they pull the IPO if the timing is not right and wait, you read of it happening all the time, even in recent yrs)

List of the majority of U.S. exchange 2008 yr IPO's and amount raised in $millions of dollars: note, it's the dollars raised listed, not the share price. As in Visa raised $17,864 million or $1.7 BILLION dollars. Cardionet, a medical company- raised $81 million (note, two raised over $1 billion) (bottom of list BHRT)

Visa $17,864
American Water Works $1,247
Intrepid Potash $960
GT Solar International $499
Colfax Corp $337
Williams Pipeline Partners $325
Western Gas Partners $309
RiskMetrics Group $245
Hatteras Financial $240
Navios Maritime Acq Corp $220
Whiting USA Trust I $217
American Capital Agency $200
Safe Bulkers $190
RHI Entertainment $189
Rackspace Hosting $187
Verso Paper $168
Pioneer Southwest Energy $156
Cascal B.V. $144
Grand Canyon Education $126
Britania Bulk Holdings $124
Energy Recovery $119
IPC The Hospitalist Company $83
CardioNet $81
ArcSight $61
China Distance Education $61
Chardan 2008 China Acq Corp $55
Real Goods Solar $55
MAKO Surgical $51
North Asia Investment Corp $50
China Mass Media Corp $48
ATA Inc $46
Heritage-Crystal Clean $21
BioHeart $5.78 (we'll add the decimal since it's so low)

Note, the majority, if not all the "successful" IPO's had what would be called "major" underwriters- the "big hitters" ,the "who's who" of Wall St firms to take a company "public"- as in Goldman, Citi, UBS, Lehman, etc. BHRT had some small time, sorta no-name IMO, underwriter named "Dawson James Securities, Inc. ", and I believe BHRT even fired/changed their "small time" underwriters several times- before limping across the IPO finish line; if you read the early PR about the "IPO", the names of the underwriters changes/changed several times.
http://www.pehub.com/2008/02/bioheart-barely-beating/

And how did it "perform" post IPO, only months later, as of Jan 2009? Well, it came in as the "anchor man", bottom of the list of worst performing, post IPOs yr 2008, and was already down 85% from the offering price, initial share sales. It's been a bust since IPO day one IMO, and all the data on research sites, IMO, says the same. Many would argue, they never should have gone public in the first place, at least not when they did- that's my opinion, and that expressed by many other writers/web sites/financial sites I have read or researched.

"How Some 2008 IPO's Fared
Friday, January 23, 2009
Courtesy of CNN Money, here's a quick list of some IPO's and how they have fared thus far. LOPE and V are the standouts, while HOO and BHRT are really struggling. V, also, has a large hedge fund presence by prominent funds, as we've noted in our hedge fund tracking series."
(list shows what price was on IPO day, then what it was on Jan 23,2009. Percentage positive as in Grand Canyon Education 57%, means it was trading UP 57% from its offering price. BHRT -85%, means it was down already 85% from the IPO price of $5.25 and was then at .79 cents)

Grand Canyon Education LOPE 57% $18.81 $12.00 20-Nov
Visa Inc. V 27% $55.73 $44.00 19-Mar
Hatteras Financial Corp HTS 7% $26.56 $24.00 25-Apr
Heritage-Crystal Clean HCCI 4% $12.01 $11.50 12-Mar
American Water Works AWK -4% $20.72 $21.50 22-Apr
IPC The Hospitalist Co. IPCM -5% $15.15 $16.00 24-Jan
Energy Recovery ERII -14% $7.34 $8.50 2-Jul
Western Gas Partners WES -15% $14.02 $16.50 8-May
RiskMetrics Group RMG -18% $14.38 $17.50 24-Jan
Pioneer Southwest Energy PSE -27% $13.90 $19.00 30-Apr
Intrepid Potash IPI -33% $21.38 $32.00 21-Apr
Fifth Street Finance FSC -48% $7.30 $14.12 11-Jun
RHI Entertainment RHIE -51% $6.87 $14.00 17-Jun
ATA Inc. ATAI -52% $4.60 $9.50 28-Jan
Safe Bunkers Inc. SB -53% $8.95 $19.00 28-May
RackSpace Hosting Inc. RAX -54% $5.81 $12.50 7-Aug
Navios Maritime Acquisition NM -60% $4.01 $10.00 25-Jun
Real Goods Solar RSOL -62% $3.77 $10.00 8-May
Pansoft Company PSOF -65% $2.45 $7.00 9-Sep
Cascal NV HOO -67% $3.93 $12.00 28-Jan
Bioheart Inc. BHRT -85% $0.79 $5.25 19-Feb

By Jan 2009, they were at .79 cents, down from the $5.25 IPO price. Pretty amazing. Remember, they were delisted from NASDAQ, about only one year after going public- another pretty amazing "accomplishment" IMO.

http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2009/02/26/393349/160467/en/Bioheart-Inc-Receives-Notice-of-Delisting-From-The-NASDAQ-Capital-Market.html

IMO, this company has had major financial problems going way, way, way back- across multiple CEO's and multiple BOD members/departures. It's nothing "new" IMHO. The data supports that opinion, I believe, going back many years, at least 5 yr if not more perhaps.