iPayment IPO Finally Prices

"It's just astonishing to me that a firm could allow an analyst to participate in a roadshow -- and the fact that the prohibition on such conduct isn't literally in effect yet doesn't make me any less disappointed," SEC enforcement chief Stephen Cutler was quoted as saying in the Journal.

Earlier this week, another technology IPO, DigitalNet, was withdrawn because of market uncertainty. DigitalNet is a government IT contractor, and several reports said the deal was pulled after institutions became skittish about customer retention issues and its lack of profitability.

No initial offering of stock had been sold to the U.S. public in two months. About 20 deals are said to be registered and waiting for the go-ahead from underwriters.

iPayment raised $80 million in its offering.

Unlike DigitalNet, whose most recent pro forma financial statement showed a decline in revenue, iPayment's April 23 report showed the company had net income of $900,000 on revenue of $46.7 million, compared with a loss of $700,000 on revenue of $16.5 million last year. Most of the revenue increase was a result of recent acquisitions, however.