By the time you read this column, Dole Food Co. should be on the glide path to an initial public stock offering that might mark a turning point for the markets and for long-suffering investors.

Emphasis on the word “might.” I’m hedging my bets just a bit when it comes to Westlake Village-based Dole and its octogenarian owner, David Murdock. But years of watching these things tells me this IPO is worth paying attention to.

Murdock and his Dole transaction have plenty of skeptics. My longtime colleague and competitor Al Lewis of Dow Jones Newswires points out there’s a lot about this deal that’s good for Murdock and not necessarily good for investors.

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