Bandwidth Rises Nearly 6 Percent in First Day of Trading

11/10/17

Bandwidth Inc. saw its stock rise 5.95 percent in its first day of trading on Friday after the company raised $80 million in its initial public offering.

Shares of the telecommunications company rose as much as 10 percent to $22 on Friday before closing at $21.19. More than 2.4 million shares traded on Friday.

The Raleigh-based company filed for an IPO in October. Its offering sold 4 million shares of stock at $20 per share. The stock opened trading on Friday at $21.06.

The first-day rise suggests that Bandwidth’s underwriters properly priced the offering. The average first-day increase in an IPO during the last 90 days has been 20 percent, according to Renaissance Capital, which tracks the IPO market.

“Today represents a huge milestone for Bandwidth, and we are honored to be associated with and listed on Nasdaq,” said CEO David Morken in a statement. “Over the years, Bandwidth has broken down the walls of the centuries-old telecommunications marketplace to change and usher in a new modern era of voice communications. Today, we celebrate a new phase in our story as a publicly traded company.”

The company plans to use its IPO proceeds to increase capitalization and financial flexibility.

According to the IPO filing, the company has $41.5 million in debt.

The telecommunications company operates as a cloud-based, software communications platform across the United States.

Bandwidth develops products with intelligent voice, messaging, 9-1-1 access, and phone number services, backed by its all-IP voice network.

Businesses use Bandwidth to easily add calling, texting and 9-1-1 connectivity to software, applications and internet-connect devices.

In 2011, the company partnered with Alabama’s 9-1-1 centers to allow people to send text messages, pictures and videos to 9-1-1 operators.

The company currently has 865 customers, including Microsoft and Google.

The company reported $152.1 million in 2016 revenue and $22.4 million in net income.

In the first half of 2017, Bandwidth had a net income of $4.9 million on sales of $79.2 million.

The company, which was founded in 1999, is led by Morken, who is also the co-founder, chairman and former CEO of Republic Wireless. Morken rang the opening bell at Nasdaq in New York on Friday morning.

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