Tut Systems Nets King-Sized Gains As Street Welcomes Latest Tech IPO
JAN 29,1999
PLEASANT HILL, Calif. -(Dow Jones)- The initial public offering market was
abuzz Friday as investors gobbled up shares of Tut Systems Inc., a maker of
computer-networking technology that uses ordinary phone lines to transfer data
at high speeds in the home.
Shares of Tut (TUTS) were priced at $18 late Thursday and on Friday reached
as high as $63.375 before settling at $57.50.
Tut's successful debut is the latest in a string of well-received IPOs,
including Web-site software developer Allaire Corp., software provider Nvidia
Corp. and digital-communications concern Covad Communications Group Inc. The
IPO market, continuing a trend seen in 1998, got off to a bang in 1999 when
financial news Web site MarketWatch.com Inc. (MKTW) watched its shares
skyrocket to $97.50 from $17 in its first day of trading.
Pleasant Hill, Calif.-based Tut is a closely watched company that counts
Microsoft Corp. among its investors. Tut's technology enables consumers to
create home networks of computers and other devices over existing copper phone
lines, without interruption to voice services.
Big-name computer makers have banded together with chip makers and
communications specialists to develop technical standards for developing
computer networks in the home. The group hopes to exploit the rising number of
homes with more than one personal computer. With networks, PC users can swap
files, share a single printer or Internet connection, or play games against one
another.
Industry titans such as Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. and AT&T Corp. have
invested millions in Tut, betting its "Home Run" technology will be a powerful
stimulant for new computer sales. Microsoft is its largest shareholder with a
13% stake.
Ordinary modems, of course, also use telephone wires to shuttle the ones and
zeroes of computer data around. But those modems are relatively slow, and
high-speed modems are expensive. Tut says its technology is fast and cheap
because it works much as Morse code does: reading signals' duration, not their
strength, as other modems do. Watch this one fire all engines.!!!!! |
