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Shake Shack IPO Debuts as Home Run

Shake Shack IPO
Source: Shake Shack IPO Filing
The latest entry into the fast-casual dining space made a big noise Friday morning, when Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE: SHAK) began trading at over $47 a share. The company priced its initial public offering (IPO) at $21 a share on Thursday night, but investors bid shares up nearly 125% for the first trade. The original price range had been $14 to $16, and the company raised it on Wednesday to a new range of $17 to $19.

That has to qualify as a huge opening for a restaurant chain with just 63 locations internationally and only 53 in the United States. The company calls its stores fine casual, a step up we suppose from the fast-casual space.

Shake Shack has big plans. It wants to open at least 10 company-operated stores a year in the United States, eventually reaching a total of 450 company-operated U.S. stores. It’s not often that you see a new company with what amounts to a 40-year growth plan.

The company sold 5 million shares of Class A common stock, and more than 6 million shares changed hands in the first hour of trading. Joint bookrunners for the offering include J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies. Co-managers are William Blair and Stifel. The underwriters have a 30-day option on an additional 750,000 shares.

Whenever we see an enormous first-day jump like this we have to wonder how the underwriters failed to see the demand. Sure they want to see that their big clients make a profit on an IPO, but what about the company? Investors should have been happy with a solid 25% first-day gain and the company could have pocketed more cash.

At the $21 IPO price, the company’s market cap totaled around $745 million and the company raised about $105 million.

Shares traded at $47.32 about an hour after the opening bell Friday, up about 127%. The stock hit a high of $52.50 before falling back.

ALSO READ: Box Inc. and Its Investors Hit IPO Jackpot

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