UPDATED 20:02 EDT / SEPTEMBER 25 2018

CLOUD

IPO parade marches on: SurveyMonkey shares soar at opening today

Updated:

Cloud-based online survey and questionnaire firm SurveyMonkey Inc. today upped its initial public offering share price ahead of its debut on the Nasdaq exchange Wednesday.

SurveyMonkey is listing at $12 per share, above the $9 to $11 it had previously been seeking, seeing to raise $180 million, up from about $150 million. Update: Shares opened Wednesday morning at $18.75 a share, 60 percent above the revised price.

The increased price has been credited to strong demand. CNBC reported that Salesforce Ventures has already agreed to purchase $40 million in SurveyMonkey stock in a private placement at a price equal to the IPO price. The number of shares on offer has also increased from 13.5 million to 15 million, also credited to strong demand.

SurveyMonkey comes into its float with mixed financials. The company reported in the first half of 2018 that it had a $27.2 million net loss on $121.2 million in revenue, compared with a $19.1 million net loss on $106.5 million in revenue in the first half of 2017.

Losses at the company are narrowing year-on-year, with a loss of $24 million for the calendar year 2017 on $218.8 million in revenue, versus a $76.4 million loss on $207.3 million in revenue in 2016.

The improving trend in SurveyMonkey’s losses has been noted by investors. A poll by Nasdaq.com voted SurveyMonkey a “hot IPO” that they expect to have a strong first-day pop.

“Technology IPOs have performed well recently,” the Nasdaq report noted. “That 6 percent sales growth in 2017 is below average for a tech IPO, but more recently SurveyMonkey grew 17 percent in the 2Q18. The company has strong profitability (25 percent EBITDA margin), while its leverage looks manageable.”

SurveyMonkey will go public after the Nasdaq ringing of the bell at 9:30 a.m. EDT under the stock symbol SVMK.

Photo: infomatique/Flickr

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