Bazaarvoice Sets For Premium IPO (BV)

Bazaarvoice, Inc. (NASDAQ: BV) is set for a strong IPO based on its pricing.  The social commerce solutions provider helps its clients capture, display and analyze online word of mouth buzz.  The company’s initial public offering of 9,484,296 shares of common stock has priced at $12.00 per share.  Investors should know that this is another premium-IPO as the price range was previously set at $8.00 to $10.00 per share.

Most of the shares are also being sold by the company rather than this being just an insider cash-out: 9,000,000 shares are being sold by Bazaarvoice and 484,296 shares are being offered by selling stockholders.

Joint book-runners of the offering are Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities, and Credit Suisse Securities.  Co-managers are Piper Jaffray, Pacific Crest Securities, and BMO Capital Markets Corp.  Bazaarvoice and the selling stockholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,422,645 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments.

In fiscal years 2009, 2010 and 2011 and the nine months ended January 31, 2012, Bazaarvoice generated revenue of $22.5 million, $38.6 million, $64.5 million and $74.7 million, respectively. In fiscal years 2009, 2010 and 2011 and the nine months ended January 31, 2012, the company generated 15.8%, 25.2%, 24.9% and 23.7% of sales, respectively, from outside of the United States.

As of January 31 the company served 737 clients from retail, consumer products, travel and leisure, technology, telecommunications, financial services, healthcare and automotive industries. For the nine months ended January 31, 2012, Bazaarvoice served over 92.7 billion impressions and its claims to have served over 297.5 billion total impressions since its inception in May 2005.

JON C. OGG