“The stock was priced at 14 for its IPO, but it opened at 46 and
closed at 52.06 yesterday. Today, the ascent continued as the stock
soared 20.5, closing at 72.62.”
“Conference attendees, who normally spend their time
attending demonstrations and collecting promotional trinkets,
found the IPO to be an exciting sideshow.
‘I’m really amazed,’ said engineer Ken Keller upon learning Red
Hat’s stock price had more than tripled. ‘It does nothing but bring
more legitimacy to Linux.’ Keller has been monitoring Linux for
several years, though, and expected Wall Street’s embrace to occur
earlier.
Jim Forrester, a computer technician for the Antioch School
District in California, who sported a large foam Penguin hat on the
show floor, said he expected the initial jump in stock value.
However, he believes Red Hat likely will settle down to 25 or 30.
Attendee Alana Dwyer said she was surprised how well the IPO went
given the tepid performance of several recent high-tech IPOs.”