You’d need a crystal ball to know how healthy the IPO market will be in 2013. Still, industry watchers – looking at the 152 active IPOs in the pipeline, versus the 226 IPOs in the pipeline at this time last year — feel safe in making a few, cautious forecasts.

Earlier this afternoon, Scott Sweet, managing director of the research firm IPOboutique.com, told me that he’d already received more than 30 calls today. Tomorrow, he says, “it will be double that number – at least.” Sweet finds himself in great demand as observers contemplate the imminent IPO of LinkedIn, which raised its expected price range [...]

Last week, six companies went public. This week, another dozen companies are slated to IPO, including NeoPhotonics and Epocrates, two companies whose highly anticipated offerings are expected to perform well. If that sounds like a lot of activity, it is. In fact, it’s the busiest week for U.S. IPOs since 2007. And the trend looks [...]