Renaissance Capital Principal Kathleen Smith says U.S. IPO's probably won't break 2014 records.

SHOWS: NEW YORK, USA (JANUARY 9, 2015) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. RENAISSANCE CAPITAL, PRINCIPAL, KATHLEEN SMITH, SAYING:

JOURNALIST ASKING KATHLEEN SMITH: 'So can 2015 outdo 2014 in terms of the number and size of IPO's?'

SMITH: 'Well we certainly set a high standard in 2014; it was a record breaking year. And we do expect some of the momentum to continue but we might not see - we've had a huge rise in 2013, another one in 14, so we'll see strong issuance we think but it may not be at these record levels that we have seen in 2014.'

JOURNALIST: 'Alibaba grabbed all the headlines last year. Is there another Alibaba in the wings?'

SMITH: 'Alibaba was the largest global IPO ever so it is going to be hard to match that one. But there are some very large companies that are waiting in the wings. Uber has been discussed quite a bit, it has a pre-IPO valuation of $40 billion and so that one and a number of other private companies that are large and have percolated for a long time in investor private venture portfolios we expect will tap the market coming up.'

JOURNALIST: 'Healthcare was a big sector last year in terms of the number of IPO's. What will be the big sector this year?'

SMITH: 'We think that healthcare will continue, the bio-techs in particular have performed very well. They were the best performing area of the 2014 IPO market, already half of the IPO's being filed recently are bio-techs. So we expect that to continue and we should look out for some very interesting ideas that are gene therapy related and kinds of very unique cancer cures.'

JOURNALIST: 'Any other sectors that stand out potentially as big IPO performers or debuts in 2015?'

SMITH: 'Well we like to look at the ones that worked so well in 14 because that kind of continues in 2015. And we would say the consumer sector is something to look out for. We think that there were some very strong restaurant stocks, Zoe's Kitchen for example, up over 100 percent from its IPO and we think that that will set the stage for Shake Shack and Smashburger that in particular are going to tap the market this year. So those restaurant companies, other consumer names, Virgin America for example a great IPO in 2014 helped by lower energy prices, Azul Airlines which was founded by Jet Blue's founder, it's the third largest airline in Brazil, we think that that one will successfully tap the market this year.'