[ Thanks to Peter
Crane for this link. ]
“Shares of Linux software distributor Red Hat Inc. more than
tripled from their offering price in trading Wednesday, in stunning
contrast to the current slump among Internet initial public
offerings
“Red Hat, Durham, N.C., was expected to be one of the week’s
hotter offerings, though some analysts worried the offering
wouldn’t be as explosive at it would have been had it come a few
weeks ago because of the overall downturn in the market’s attitude
toward technology issues and the glut of new issues in the
pipeline.”
“Red Hat has hovered around profitability for the past few
years. In the company’s fiscal 1999 ended Feb. 28, Red Hat logged
$10.8 million in revenue for a net loss of $91,000. (Its net loss,
including accretion on preferred stock, was $130,000 for the year.)
The company reported net income of $8,000 on a little more than
half the revenue the year before.
“However, losses have accelerated in recent months as Red Hat
has ramped up its sales push. For the three-month period ended May
31, the company reported a net loss of $2.1 million on $2.8 million
in sales.
“Based on the 66.8 million shares outstanding after the
offering, Red Hat has an estimated market value of about $2.96
billion.”