By Phil Wahba and Juan Lagorio
NEW YORK, June 25 (Reuters) - Shares of software maker Medidata Solutions Inc closed 21.4 percent higher on their first day of trading on Thursday, ending the busiest week for U.S. initial public offerings in over a year with a bang.
After rising as much as 36 percent over their $14 IPO price, Medidata shares settled down to close at $17 on Nasdaq, making it the ninth IPO out of 10 in the United States this year to have a 'first day pop,' or rise in a trading debut, in the latest sign of the market's healing.
New York-based Medidata, which provides software to drugmakers such as Johnson & Johnson and contract research organizations, has attracted investor interest because of its record of growth and stellar client list, an analyst said.
'It is definitely a strong fundamentals company. This company has rapidly gained a dominant share in its market,' said Eric Guja, an analyst at Connecticut-based Renaissance Capital.
The warm reception for the shares show an appetite among investors for IPOs, including those by software companies, Guja said. 'The last six or seven deals that were priced have traded relatively well in the first few days, and continued to trade well.'
The Medidata IPO followed the market debuts on Wednesday of two Chinese companies: water treatment equipment supplier Duoyuan Global Water Inc, which closed its first day of up 36.7 percent, and chemicals maker Chemspec International Ltd , which closed unchanged, making it the only IPO on a U.S. exchange this year not to rise on its first day.
These deals made this week the first since April 2008 to see at least three IPOs in the United States, according to Thomson Reuters.
Medidata's 21.4 percent jump was the fifth best debut this year. The largest first-day pops were by online restaurant reservations system OpenTable Inc, which jumped 59.5 percent, and by language training software maker Rosetta Stone Inc, which rose 39.6 percent.
Medidata is the third software company to go public in the United States this year, following Rosetta Stone and network software provider SolarWinds Inc.
Medidata sold 6.3 million shares at $14 each in its IPO Wednesday night, above the expected price range of $11 to $13, raising $88.2 million in a deal was underwritten by Credit Suisse and Citigroup.
(Reporting by Phil Wahba and Juan Lagorio, editing by Dave Zimmerman, John Wallace and Richard Chang) Keywords: MEDIDATA/ (phil.wahba@thomsonreuters.com ; +1 646 223 6128; Reuters Messaging: phil.wahba.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
NEW YORK, June 25 (Reuters) - Shares of software maker Medidata Solutions Inc closed 21.4 percent higher on their first day of trading on Thursday, ending the busiest week for U.S. initial public offerings in over a year with a bang.
After rising as much as 36 percent over their $14 IPO price, Medidata shares settled down to close at $17 on Nasdaq, making it the ninth IPO out of 10 in the United States this year to have a 'first day pop,' or rise in a trading debut, in the latest sign of the market's healing.
New York-based Medidata, which provides software to drugmakers such as Johnson & Johnson and contract research organizations, has attracted investor interest because of its record of growth and stellar client list, an analyst said.
'It is definitely a strong fundamentals company. This company has rapidly gained a dominant share in its market,' said Eric Guja, an analyst at Connecticut-based Renaissance Capital.
The warm reception for the shares show an appetite among investors for IPOs, including those by software companies, Guja said. 'The last six or seven deals that were priced have traded relatively well in the first few days, and continued to trade well.'
The Medidata IPO followed the market debuts on Wednesday of two Chinese companies: water treatment equipment supplier Duoyuan Global Water Inc, which closed its first day of up 36.7 percent, and chemicals maker Chemspec International Ltd , which closed unchanged, making it the only IPO on a U.S. exchange this year not to rise on its first day.
These deals made this week the first since April 2008 to see at least three IPOs in the United States, according to Thomson Reuters.
Medidata's 21.4 percent jump was the fifth best debut this year. The largest first-day pops were by online restaurant reservations system OpenTable Inc, which jumped 59.5 percent, and by language training software maker Rosetta Stone Inc, which rose 39.6 percent.
Medidata is the third software company to go public in the United States this year, following Rosetta Stone and network software provider SolarWinds Inc.
Medidata sold 6.3 million shares at $14 each in its IPO Wednesday night, above the expected price range of $11 to $13, raising $88.2 million in a deal was underwritten by Credit Suisse and Citigroup.
(Reporting by Phil Wahba and Juan Lagorio, editing by Dave Zimmerman, John Wallace and Richard Chang) Keywords: MEDIDATA/ (phil.wahba@thomsonreuters.com ; +1 646 223 6128; Reuters Messaging: phil.wahba.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.