Even though this summer is expected to be a slow season for new stock offerings, market watchers are already daydreaming about the kinds of deals they would like to see in the wake of Energy Recovery Inc.'s successful debut last week.

The 16% pop by the initial public offering of Energy Recovery, which makes energy-saving devices for water-desalination plants, ended a two-month streak of eight IPOs that didn't gain on their first days of trading.

While one strong IPO doesn't a trend make, it does have analysts considering which stocks could weather uncertain market conditions like Energy Recovery did -- it rose on the same day the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit bear-market territory.

"Alternative energy plays will continue to attract the attention of investors," says Ben Holmes, publisher of research site Morningnotes.com. "Energy Recovery could be the torchrunner for this industry."

There are just a few alternative-energy IPOs in the U.S. pipeline, according to data from Dealogic, but Mr. Holmes and others said that Energy Recovery could spur more "green" companies to go public.