Bankers desperate for signs of life in the U.S. IPO market are likely to be buoyed that three are on the calendar in a single week in February, including a $562.5 million offering by Bristol-Myers Squibb offshoot Mead Johnson Nutrition. Hardly a deluge, but not bad after only one IPO in the past six months.

That flurry doesn’t mean there will be major reopening of the market anytime soon: new filings, which indicate companies think the market might soon be ready for their IPO, remained anemic in January.

In fact, the first month of 2009 saw only two, according to Thomson Reuters’ monthly snapshot, and they were small deals at that. And on the last business day of the month, Magnachip Semiconductor withdrew its $575 million IPO.

In January, Medidata Solutions, a New York-based company that serves pharmaceuticals and contract research organizations, filed for a $86.3 million IPO, while OpenTable, an online reservation taking service for restaurants and their patrons, filed for a $40 million IPO Friday.

The OpenTable deal is being led by Merrill Lynch, the top underwriter of U.S. IPOs. In 2008 — Merrill worked on deals worth $3.7 billion, earning it fees of about $84 million.

In normal times, a major banker like Merrill would pass on a small deal like OpenTable. But the pickings are slim these days and you have to keep your bankers busy somehow. Still, the IPO is likely to yield fees of only about $1.2 million, or barely enough to redecorate an office in some circles.

IPOs are expected to remain small for the time being, at least until the stock markets recover. And follow ons by already public companies are set to dominate the equities issuance landscape- January saw a total of $2.7 billion in follow on offerings, compared to zero for IPOs.

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