Cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc. (NASDAQ: FEYE) and advertising technology company Rocket Fuel Inc. (NASDAQ: FUEL) both launched initial public offerings Friday morning, and both are posting share price gains of more than 90%.
FireEye sold 15.2 million shares at $20 and raised about $300 million. The IPO price was above the proposed range of $15 to $17 a share.
Rocket Fuel offered 4 million shares at the top end of its proposed range of $27 to $29 a share. The firm raised $116 million in the IPO.
But the real news is the near vertical trajectory in share prices for the two stocks. This could be another manifestation of the market’s hunger for some momentum plays, as we noted earlier this morning the bump to share prices for both JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) and Shutterstock Inc. (NASDAQ: SSTK), both of which held secondary share sales this morning.
Today’s IPOs set up the coming Twitter IPO as a potential blockbuster. They also wipe away some of the bad feeling left behind from last year’s big Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) IPO. In that one, Facebook got its desired $100 billion valuation and buyers got the shaft. Today, buyers got the money and the companies probably got less than they should have. How will Twitter decide to play it?
Shares of FireEye are trading at $38.68 in the early afternoon Friday, up 93.4% over the IPO price.
Rocket Fuel’s shares are up 92.7% at $55.88.
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