To: $Mogul who wrote (47 ) 6/21/1999 7:32:00 PM From: D. K. G. Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 2110
Ariba's place in exploding market to help IPO By Reshma Kapadiabiz.yahoo.com Monday June 21, 5:28 pm Eastern Time NEW YORK, June 21 (Reuters) - Of the more than 20 initial public offerings slated for this week, Ariba Inc. (Nasdaq:ARBA - news) is expected to be among the hottest because of the explosive growth projections for the business to business e-commerce market. Ariba's software is used by companies to automate purchasing of operating resources such as office supplies, computer products, which usually comprises a large chunk of yearly expenses for multinational corporations, analysts said. The company plans to offer 4.0 million shares in an expected range of $20 to $22 through lead underwriter Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. It is expected to begin trade Tuesday. Many analysts view the stock as one investors will hold onto long-term. Forrester Research expects Internet-based business to business e-commerce to grow rapidly to $1.3 trillion in 2003 from $43 billion in 1998. ''Ariba makes the whole process get away from the paper-based invoicing. It is producing a network where buyers and suppliers can interact,'' said Paul Bard, an analyst at Renaissance Capital Corp.'s IPO Plus Aftermarket Fund (Nasdaq:IPOSX - news). ''The growth on this company has been phenomenal. The market for this is huge. This is a big portion of a global corporation's expenditures every year and provides significant cost savings for them and for companies looking to reduce costs.'' Sales grew to $16.3 million for the six months ended March 31, 1999 from $1.2 million in the year-ago period. Among its clients are Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CHV - news), Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO - news) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HWP - news). Its competitors includes Commerce One, which is slated to go public this summer, Oracle (Nasdaq:ORCL - news) and SAP AG (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: SAPG.F). ''We think they are one of the early leaders in the market because of their ability to secure the largest corporate customers out there,'' said Albert Pang, a research manager at International Data Corp. The company's biggest obstacle is building its network as the premiere network for buyers and suppliers, but Bard said he does not see this as a big hurdle. Most of the company's sales, at the moment, come from providing software to the buyers but going forward it can pursue other revenue streams such as advertising or other types of e-commerce, Bard added. ''It's a huge market and I think it will be perceived that way,'' Bard said. ''There is a lot of interest in this space of business to business e-commerce. It will be a hot IPO because there have not been a large number of companies entering this space.'' VerticalNet Inc., which went public in February, also addressed the business to business e-commerce space. It has steadily increased from its IPO price of $16 a share and tripled upon debut. VerticalNet was last trading at 82-1/2. In recent months, the IPO euphoria of earlier this year has cooled but investors are still welcoming deals with strong brand names or those with a foot in a young, fast-growing market.