A123 Raises Price in Anticipation of Imminent IPO

A123 Systems is feeling cocky.

The battery maker, which plans to go public and wants to start trading its shares on Nasdaq tomorrrow, said in its filing with the SEC that it will now sell its shares at a price between $10 and $11.50. Earlier, the planned price was $8 to $9.50. It has not raised the number of shares it will offer: 25.7 million. The final price will come after the market closes today.

That's a sign, of course, that the company is getting a lot of interest from potential buyers. Last year, desalination expert Energy Recovery, one of the few IPOs in green last year,  Then again, other companies – Transmeta, several Linux companies – have gone into IPOs riding a wave of momentum that evaporated.

If A123 succeeds, many investors, entrepreneurs and analysts hope it will pave the way for more IPOs or acquisitions.

It's somewhat of a polarizing company. Many believe it could become a fairly large battery company. The good: It has deals with Black & Decker, BAE Systems and Chrysler. Revenue since founding has come to $168.5 million and losses are declining.

The downside: A123 has never made a profit, has lost $146 million since its founding, and it specializes in lithium phosphate batteries that pack less energy than some of the lithium batteries (or components for lithium batteries) that are here or are coming from companies like Boston-Power, Imara, IBM. But A123 is in volume production.

Is A123 the right company at the right time, or is it already dated? Place your bets, battery fans.