“ECOM,” the proposed stock symbol on the New York Stock Exchange for ChannelAdvisor, may not be used for a while.

In fact, maybe not at all. (THis post has been updated to include some more feedback.)

If ChannelAdsvisor’s “road show” attempting to spark interest in an offering of the ecommerce firm’s stock was generating a great deal of interest, the Morrisville-based firm would NOT have made several changes in its SEC stock registration filing, legal and financial sources interviewed by The Skinny say.

On Friday, ChannelAdvisor updated its so-called S-1 filing that indicate trouble. The experts also warn that information is subject to change and the venture-capital backed firm could pull off the IPO. “It never ceases to amaze me the ebb and flow of these things,” warns one lawyer who has been involved in IPOs for years. “One day it’s soft, the next day it’s not.”

But here are the indicators that ChannelAdvisor’s road show – led by Wall Street heavyweight Goldman Sachs – is encountering headwinds:

1. ChannelAdvisor removed from the top of the filing the AMOUNT of money it is seeking to raise.

“That’s highly unusual,” a financial analyst said.

In three other S-1s, ChannelAdvisor spelled out $75 million as the goal twice and, earlier this month, $86.2 million.

Also not included is the filing fee paid to the SEC. Experts say that those in the know can figure out how much a company is trying to raise by “backing in” to the total if the fee amount is known.

2. ChannelAdvisor has executed a reverse, 16-for-1 stock split that drastically reduced the number of shares available to some 1.3 million from 19.8 million.

“That’s NOT a minor split,” one experienced lawyer who works with venture firms said. Even though ChannelAdvisor explained in earlier filings that a reverse stock split was coming, the disclosed size did not impress the laywer. He believes ChannelAdvisor “didn’t want to do” the split but had no choice in preparing for the IPO filing and only later filled in the numbers. Asked if that 16-to-1 deal was a big deal, implying cool interest, he noted: “It is, yeah.”

 That change to make a 16-for-1 deal has several implications, another lawyer explained.

For example, institutional investors can’t buy so-called “penny stocks.” If ChannelAdvisor shares couldn’t at least hit $5, they would be considered such a stock and big investors couldn’t play.

The maneuver also could mean ChannelAdvisor is having trouble hitting its hoped-for share price even if the Street was open to something higher than the “penny range.”

3. There also may be fears of ChannelAdvisor’s existing owners – such as three venture capital firms – along with its founders and executive team – could choose to “flood” the market with shares once any “lockups” expire.

Remember what happened to Facebook?

A close review of ChannelAdvisor’s S-1 shows that even after the reverse split there is a huge “overhang” of shares held by investors, founders and managers at a ratio if 3-to-1.

“If a lot of shares hit the market, there is a huge downward pressure on the stock,” one expert noted.

Bring that many more shares into the pool, a “flood” ensues and the early buyers of the IPO stand a serious chance of losing big money.

And apparently few potential buyers have been willing to take that risk. But that also could change tomorrow. ChannelAdvisor can’t talk about such matters due to SEC rules. So for now we’ll have to wait for the next S-1 filing to see what, if anything, changes as the road show continues. 

The updated filing can be read online.

[CHANNELADVISOR ARCHIVE: Check out more than a decade of ChannelAdvisor stories as reported in WRAL Tech Wire.]