5 Technology IPOs Up Over 20 Percent from Their IPO Offer Price
Elizabeth is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
In the overall scheme of things, the global tech industry experienced a heavy heart of sadness in 2011, with the passing of Apple's creative innovator and visionary Steve Jobs.
But, thanks in part to Jobs, it was also a time of excitement when mobile computing exploded and popularity of the Apple's iPad 2, Amazon's Kindle Fire, and the many Google Android-based tablet devices.
2011 was the year that many rapidly growing internet businesses decided to go public too -- some 44 of them. It was a vibrant environment in the technology IPO world, and many of them are still up considerably from their original initial public offering price. Here are five:
1) LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD)
IPO Date: 5/19/2011
IPO Offer Price: $45
First Day Close: $94.25
Previous Close: $63.90
Up from IPO: 42 percent
The professional networking site LinkedIn, which boasts 135 million members, is thought to be the best tech IPO since the likes of Google's IPO back in 2004. In essence, LinkedIn "is" the social media IPO for 2011, and the stand-in for the anticipated Facebook IPO, which we likely may see in 2012.
2) Fusion IO (NYSE: FIO)
IPO Date: 6/9/2011
IPO Offer Price: $19
First Day Close: $22.50
Previous Close: $25.76
Up from IPO: 35 percent
LinkedIn's current closest post-IPO performance competitor is Fusion IO. Named one of the most promising IT companies by the Wall Street Journal, this computer software and hardware systems company has had partnerships with such big boys as IBM and Dell.
3) JIVE Software (NASDAQ: JIVE)
IPO Date: 12/13/2011
IPO Offer Price: $12
First Day Close: $15.05
Previous Close: $15.66
Up from IPO: 30 percent
JIVE software, headquartered in California, had its IPO date just a couple of short weeks ago. In the social networking business software, JIVE software is filling the need of the social networking industry explosion. Its premier product, Jive Engage, features social applications and community and collaboration software, and has been used by Hewlett-Packard, UBS, and SAP.
4) Bankrate (NYSE: RATE)
IPO Date: 6/17/2011
IPO Offer Price: $15
First Day Close: $15.34
Previous Close: $19.37
Up from IPO: 29 percent
In terms of price change from IPO, Bankrate is running neck-and-neck with Jive Software. While Bankrate's stock didn't initially live up to its pre-IPO hype, this personal-finance website stock has been holding its own recently. Investors and consumers should note that Bankrate doesn't just offer quotes on CDs and mortgages, but it offers a host of personal finance tools, such as saving and refinancing calculators.
5) Angie's List (NASDAQ: ANGI)
IPO Date: 11/11/2011
IPO Offer Price: $13
First Day Close: $16.28
Previous Close: $16.08
Change From IPO: 23 percent
The concept behind Angie's List appears to be filling a previously missed void. Paid and registered members, who provide contractor reviews, are the only ones who have access to the site. This paid, subscriber-based site is thought to provide unbiased critiques -- or in terms of Angie's List's slogan -- "reviews you can trust".
Looking Forward
It will certainly be interesting how these IPO tech stocks do in the short remainder of 2011 -- and into 2012. But I'm even more excited about the possibility of 2012 IPOs from the likes of Facebook, Fister Automotive, Living Social, Dropbox, Ally, Yelp, Kayak, and Spotify.
Fool blogger Liz Magill owns no shares in any of the companies mentioned above at the time of this publication.
