NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The new-issues market continued on an upbeat path Friday as Optical Communication Products Inc., the only IPO of the day, soared by 63 percent.
Optical Communication Products climbed $6.88 to $17.88 Friday.
Earnings warnings and broad market volatility helped contribute to a slumping IPO market for much of October. However, new issues gave signs of a rebirth Thursday when three IPOs managed to open and two climbed into positive territory.
On Friday, computer chip maker Transmeta Corp. showed strength by boosting its projected share price to $16-to-$18 per share from $11-to-$13 a share. Many had questioned the viability of a Transmeta IPO when IBM decided not to use the company's chips in its laptops. Transmeta is slated to trade next Tuesday, offering 13 million shares, which will trade on Nasdaq under the symbol "TMTA."
Click here to read CNNfn.com's IPO Focus piece on Optical
Chatsworth, Calif.-based Optical Communication Products raised $115.5 million after selling 10.5 million shares at $11 each via underwriters led by UBS Warburg. Optical Communication Products (OCPI: Research, Estimates) makes gadgets that help speed the transmission of data on the Internet. The company's transmitters, receivers and transceivers convert traditional electric signals into quicker optical bands of light and then back again to electric.
Optical Communication Products touts a blue chip list of clients including Cisco Systems (CSCO: Research, Estimates), Lucent Technologies (LU: Research, Estimates) and Nortel Networks (NT: Research, Estimates). But the company also faces stiff competition from Finisar Corp. (FNSR: Research, Estimates), IBM (IBM: Research, Estimates), Lucent Technologies and Agilent Technologies (A: Research, Estimates).
The Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd. of Japan currently owns 70.3 percent of Optical Communication Products. After the IPO, Furukawa will hold 63.2 percent of outstanding shares and 94.5 percent of voting power
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