UPDATED 00:34 EDT / JUNE 18 2015

NEWS

Fitbit to float on the NYSE Thursday with a $20 share price

Shares in fitness tracking startup Fitbit, Inc. will float Thursday morning at a starting price of $20 per share, the company revealed Wednesday.

According to reports, the $20 price was well ahead of the expected float price, and will result in the company raising $732 million for itself and its selling stockholders.

The price values Fitbit at a 4 times Unicorn at $4.1 billion.

Founded in 2007, Fitbit has become a leading player in the connected fitness tracking market, and reported $132 million in net income on $745 million in revenue for 2014, a turnaround from 2013 when they company lost $52 billion on $271 million in revenue.

The sales numbers for the company also impress, with 10.9 million devices sold in 2014, up from 4.5 million in 2013 and 1.3 million in 2012.

Paid active users of Fitbit services grew from 600,000 in 2012 to 6.7 million in 2014.

“We have rapidly grown to become a leading global health and fitness brand” a Fitbit spokesman said when news of the IPO broke back in May. “We sell our products in over 45,000 retail stores and in more than 50 countries, through our retailers’ websites, through our online store at Fitbit.com, and as part of our corporate wellness offering. Our broad distribution and market-leading connected health and fitness platform have driven significant growth since our founding.”

Bonzai

Although the odds are on Fitbit probably surging to around $30 a share on debut (if not higher again) that’s more a reflection of a stock market that is desperate to invest in tech-related companies, particularly given despite the odd IPO this year, it has been said that the number of IPO’s is historically low.

Over the long term however, prospects for Fitbit are at best dubious.

Sure, they’re selling record numbers of product and their bottom line going into the IPO looks great, but much of their success has been due to a dearth of serious competitors.

Between the Apple Watch, and various Android flavored offerings, that’s no longer the case.

It could, of course, continue to deliver on the product front and maintain a strong base of loyal supporters, but that’s the question investors will have to tackle if they’re looking to hold Fitbit stock over the longer term.

Fitbit goes public at the opening of trading on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning under the (rather appropriate) stock symbol of “FIT.”

Image credit: janitors/Flickr/CC by 2.0

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