To: Yogi - Paul who wrote (7158 ) 10/1/1999 3:40:00 PM From: Sam Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 9256
The Tale of the Day: Vixel. Started trading today. See the story below, and this logic of this post from the Vixel thread: Message 11421860 . What a market. A company with projected $40 million of revenue deserves a market value of two and half billion. Nevermind that they lost almost $10 million this past 6 months. Well, but they're growing. Fascinating. (BTW, in case there is confusion, I am "Sam", not "sam".) Vixel Rises After IPO; Investors Like Its Industry NEW YORK (Reuters) - Vixel Corp. shares rose 147 percent at their launch, even after the storage area network management products company priced the initial public offering above its already upwardly revised price range. Vixel shares were $27 higher at $45 on the Nasdaq in early afternoon trading, with 3.6 million shares changing hands. The Bothell, Wash.-based firm raised $77.4 million in an IPO that priced 4.3 million shares at $18. It had planned to offer 3.7 million shares in a range of $10-12. ``It's a hot idea and one that doesn't really have the market's complete attention yet. It's just getting started,' IPO Financial Network President David Menlow said of Vixel and the industry it is part of. The offering, which represented a 20 percent stake in the company, was led by BancBoston Robertson Stephens. Investors have recently rewarded companies that have a foothold in relatively untapped, high-growth industries such as networking. Data storage is another sector that has attracted interest as data volume continues to grow as electronic commerce develops. Vixel provides SANs, or storage area networks, that are designed to interconnect computer systems and data storage devices. Research firm International Data Corp. expects that worldwide revenue from SAN products should grow to $13.3 billion in 2002 from $2.5 billion in 1998. For the six months ended July 4, Vixel posted total revenue of $22.1 million and a net loss of $9.9 million. Its competitors include Brocade Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:BRCD - news), Gadzoox Networks Inc. (Nasdaq:ZOOX - news) and Hewlett-Packard Co (NYSE:HWP - news) .