Omniture IPO Offers All Angles

Since going public last week, Omniture has managed to keep both bull and bear riveted.

For the naysayers, the market remains hostile to even promising tech companies, like this Orem, Utah-based Web analytics leader, in the wake of the Vonage fiasco. Even with the company backed by a top underwriter like Morgan Stanley, the going for venture-backed tech companies looks as if it will continue to be rough for a while.

For more sunny thinkers, the fact that this stock -- with a history of operating and net losses, and an uncertain future in a highly competitive market -- even made it public is a sign that investors are growing less judicious about stocks. That the shares have closed for three straight days above its opening price may be a small miracle. The stock, which priced at $6.50, closed Friday at $7.29.

And that's a good illustration of the schizoid thinking these days among tech investors. Whether you think new tech stocks popping into the market are undervalued gems or signs that a bubble mentality is creeping back into the sector (and if you are typical, you're probably thinking both -- maybe even on the same day), the back-and-forth can be confusing.

That's where Omniture can be helpful, even if you don't trade the stock. It's the IPO market's equivalent of that famous drawing that shows either the profile of a young girl or an old woman, depending on your perspective. Take a good look at Omniture -- do you see a healthy young company with a bright future, or a battered dot-com survivor struggling in a maturing market?

Omniture is, in fact, a survivor, having changed its name from MyComputer in a 2002 restructuring to one of those hybrid names (it's supposed to be a cross between "all" and "future") that ends up meaning nothing and quickly becomes indistinguishable from other hybrid names.