The President's Day holiday closes the securities markets on Monday, which cools the heated IPO calendar. Only seven deals are scheduled for the week, but a couple of those should join the IPO Hall of Fame.

It seems that the only thing that can slow down the soaring, new-issue market is a three-day weekend. Although the pace slackens for the new-issue calendar, most new issues could do very well in the aftermarket. The seven deals are expected to raise slightly over $1 billion, and that's not a bad dollar total. After all, bankers work on a seven percent spread, or commission, so with about a $70 million payoff, nobody will be lining up at the bread line.

Needless to say, Internet offerings -- five of which are planned -- are at the forefront of this week's IPO calendar.

The Nasdaq Composite continues to steamroll higher, paving the way for more red-hot IPO action. Last week's IPO market produced a sizzling array of Hall of Famers -- issues that rose over 100 percent in the aftermarket in their first day of trading -- and there are clear signs from the Redherring.com Street Poll that we can expect more of the same in the coming week. All but one of the offerings scheduled has a rating of Hot or better.

PICKS OF THE WEEK

Avenue A (proposed Nasdaq symbol: AVEA) is a provider of Internet advertising services. This has been a hot area in the IPO market since Modem Media.Poppe Tyson became public a year ago. Avenue A is a small offering. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Smith Barney plan to raise only $47.25 million, and the deal is expected to be priced on Thursday for Friday's market. The Street Poll rating is Red Hot.

Carrier1 International (proposed Nasdaq symbol: CONE) is a European facilities-based provider of voice, Internet, and bandwidth services. This too has been a hot area in the new-issue market, and the price range has already been increased due to huge demand. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter expects to set the terms on Tuesday for Wednesday's market. The Street Poll rating on the deal is Red Hot.

Niku (proposed Nasdaq symbol: NIKU) is another fast-growing, money-losing Internet software provider for consultants and other services professionals. Nevertheless, the Street Poll rates the deal as Hot, but it could get hotter. Goldman Sachs plans to raise $88 million when it prices the IPO on Thursday evening for Friday's trading.

For a complete listing of upcoming deals, see our IPO calendar.

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