Groupon IPO may arrive Nov. 4

— -- Investors will soon find out if the comatose IPO market can snap back to life.

Since midsummer there's been little demand for newly public companies, but now hopes are high that the initial public offering of online bargain site Groupon could reignite interest. After months of speculation, Groupon's IPO is expected to start trading on Nov. 4, says Renaissance Capital.

"It's a high-profile deal and one people are talking about," says IPO Scoop's John Fitzgibbon. "This is live, and it's coming."

Groupon has been beleaguered for months with questions about its accounting practices and mounting competition from similar deal-offering services. The company lost money in the past nine months.

But a regulatory filing on Friday showed that Groupon is serious about getting the deal done, Fitzgibbon says.

A revived stock market also could lend a boost to IPOs. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 267 points to an 11-week high of 11,809 on Friday amid growing optimism that European leaders will address the mounting debt crisis there.

Some hope Groupon could be the deal that helps:

•Uncork the IPO pipeline. There are 211 IPOs attempting to raise $52 billion, one of the largest pileups of deals in decades, says Renaissance. There have been just two IPOs since mid-August: a cosmetic medical company, Zeltiq Aesthetics, and wireless networking company, Ubiquiti Networks.

•Attract bargain hunters. Groupon is the latest to cut its expected price range to lure investors, says Renaissance's Kathy Smith. Cutting the expected range to between $16 and $18 a share would give the company a value of $11.2 billion, Renaissance says, down from original estimates of $30 billion and the company's own $20 billion target months ago.

Zeltiq and Ubiquiti Networks cut their price ranges 13% and 29% respectively from their original ranges, which made them more appealing to investors. Both deals are up more than 15% from their IPO prices.

•Show confidence in newly public companies. If Groupon can pull off its deal, that will give more companies the courage to follow, Fitzgibbon says.

Professional investors remain skeptical of Groupon, says Francis Gaskins of IPODesktop.com. And investors will need to see continued strength in markets before taking chances on IPOs, says Fred Lipman of law firm Blank Rome.

"You have to have a market that people aren't afraid of," he says.