Saw this on another thread. Interesting the valuation these internet consulting firm receive. Doesn't Ashton own about a 50% stake in one these internet consulting type companies?
Friday October 8, 1:49 pm Eastern Time
Jupiter shares double in price after
IPO
NEW YORK, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Shares of market research firm
Jupiter Communications Inc. (NasdaqNM:JPTR - news) more
than doubled in price on Friday after the company's initial public
offering was priced at $21 a share.
In morning dealings, shares of Jupiter were up 21-3/8 at 42-3/8 on the Nasdaq with six million
shares trading.
The deal, which raised $65.6 million, priced 3.125 million shares above an upwardly revised price
range. The company had initially expected its IPO to price in a range of $15-17.
Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette was the lead underwriter on the offering, which represented a 22
percent stake in the firm.
Analysts said investors were drawn to its strong brand name.
``Jupiter's research has been right on the mark and they are becoming a Web authority for the
business,' said Tom Taulli, senior analyst at Internet.com.
The New York-based firm, which offers research on Internet commerce, posted $14.4 million in
revenues and a net loss of $130,000 for the six months ended March 31.
``It has all the ingredients for success and the market has been quite liberal in recent valuations. It
has a decent growth rate at 131 percent and revenues are moving in the right direction, and it had
good pre-offering demand as well,' said Irv DeGraw, research director at WorldFinanceNet.com.
Analysts had expected the offering to perform well. Demand for research is seen growing in the
coming years as Internet commerce and new technologies expand.
The firm's competitors include Forrester Research, Gartner Group Inc. (NYSE:IT - news) -- which
is also one of Jupiter's largest shareholders -- and Gomez Advisors. |
