Fitbit Inc. shares soared in their stock-market debut.
The stock opened at $30.40, 52% above its initial public
offering price of $20. The shares, listed on the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbol "FIT," recently traded at $31.40, up 57%
from its IPO price.
The sharp rise came even after the maker of wearable
fitness-tracking devices priced its initial public offering above
already raised expectations. The opening trading performance
illustrates how there is still demand for U.S. IPOs even after a
tepid start to the year.
Fitbit's IPO raised about $732 million for the company and some
of its shareholders by selling 36.6 million shares, and gave the
San Francisco-based company a valuation of about $4.1 billion. It
marks the third-largest U.S. IPO in 2015, according to deal tracker
Dealogic.
That total doesn't count a so-called overallotment option, which
gives underwriters the opportunity to sell additional shares under
certain circumstances.
When it first filed for its IPO, Fitbit and some stockholders
planned to sell 29.9 million shares, according to a regulatory
filing, but the price and share count were raised following strong
demand from fund managers and analysts. In its final pre-IPO
regulatory filing, the plan was to sell 34.5 million shares in the
range of $17 and $19.
The deal was led by Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Bank of
America Corp.
Write to Corrie Driebusch at corrie.driebusch@wsj.com
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