IPO boom
Five initial public offerings yesterday (Wed) showed the time is ripe to issue new shares, especially in technology — all of them were robust, seeing their stocks start trading at the high end of expectations or even higher.
Comscore — ComScore, which measures the amount of traffic Web sites get, is benefiting from strong growth among Internet companies. Its initial pricing plans were between $14 and $16, but the price hit $16.50, opened trading at $22 and then shot up to $23.47 before closing. The company made $1.5 million in profit on revenue of $18.7 million in the most recent quarter. Accel Partners, of Palo Alto, is a big beneficiary. The venture firm owned $26.1 percent of it before the IPO. Other holders included JP Morgan, IVP, Lehman, Adams Street and Topspin.
Data Domain — The storage appliance company saw its stock rise to $24.95, or 66 percent higher than its $15 IPO price. That IPO price, in turn, was higher than its planned range of $11.50 to $13.50 a share. This despite a $1.5 million loss for first quarter. Greylock, NEA and Sutter Hill Ventures all held major chunks of the company.
Spreadtrum Communications — Chinese semiconductor company saw its stock increase 14 percent from its IPO price.
Spectra Energy Partners — The natural gas company saw its stock close at $28.40, or 29 percent higher than its $22 IPO price — above the expected range of $19 to $21.
AuthenTec – Fingerprint sensor company, was the rotten one of the bunch, falling 9 percent below its $11 IPO price. Still, its price range was $9 to $11, and the company is losing money, so what can you expect?
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About the Author, Matt Marshall
Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.
