initial public offering

After all the finger pointing over Facebook's rapid share price decline, there is one factor that should have served as warning. Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter, cut earnings estimates in the lead-up to the IPO -- while expanding its size and raising its price.

Facebook will list its shares with Nasdaq, according to media reports. That would be a big win for the Nasdaq, which competes fiercely with NYSE Euronext, especially for an IPO as large as Facebook's, pegged at $5 billion.

The tables are turning in the casual dining industry. Outback Steakhouse, which sold itself to a private equity group, is gearing up to go public. At the same time, publicly held Benihana is looking for a way out.

The company that makes Fender guitars is going public with a $200 million IPO. The iconic guitar maker was founded in 1946 by Leo Fender, and Fender guitars were played by some of the world's biggest music stars, from The Beatles to Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton.

After a year which featured lingering economic uncertainty, and underperformance from many popular IPOs, 2012 should see some exciting activity from the more than 200 companies hoping to go public. Here are 24/7 Wall St.'s picks for the top IPOs to watch.

A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool? Being as wealthy as a quarter of the households in the United States combined. That may soon be the state of the Facebook founder's finances; the company plans to go public at a valuation of $100 billion dollars.

If you're not familiar with Zynga, the undisputed champ of social gaming, odds are that you're not a fixture on Facebook or into smartphone app gaming. This month, it rolls the dice on a big public offering. Are you game?

Facebook may finally be ready to go public in the second quarter of 2012. At an estimated valuation of $100 billion, the social networking giant is probably no longer a ground-floor opportunity -- but could even that number be too low?

After reading the breathless media coverage about the rumored $2 billion Yelp IPO, I have one question: Does the online-review site make money? None of the articles made any mention, but profitability is the issue that should be first on investors' minds.

Are you hungry for a piece of the Facebook IPO? If so, then pull up a chair. There's plenty of room at the table ... because the other guests are fleeing. After months when all we've heard is that this (eventual) stock sale will be the hottest thing since Google, the hype trend has reversed.