Earlier this morning, ROC (formerly Rank One Computing) made an announcement:
“#ROC announces the pricing of its Initial Public Offering of 4,000,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $6.00 per share, which was the high end of the range, for total gross proceeds of $24 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses.”
Six dollars a share doesn’t seem that impressive, but all companies have to start somewhere. If I recall correctly, Printrak’s price was in that range when it started public trading (under the then-trendy ticker “AFIS“) back in 1996.
ROC was able to secure its preferred ticker “ROC.” (Sorry Alcatraz.) And the stock is already trading; see Yahoo Finance for the latest movements.
Incidentally, I should state my views on the success of an IPO.
- Many think that if a stock is initially priced at $6.00, and the price zooms to $100 by the end of the day, the IPO is a success.
- I maintain that it’s a failure. A company wants to maximize its revenue, and if the stock was truly worth $100, it should have priced its IPO at $100 to realize maximum revenue.
- Conversely, if the stock opens at $6 and the end of day price is at about that level, then the IPO is a success because the company received the maximum revenue.
- Needless to say this doesn’t take employee holdings into account. But if the goal is to maximize IPO revenue, then a price that DOESN’T shoot up is a sign of success.
Bredemarket 