LogMeIn Shares Surge on IPO Debut

Software specialist LogMeIn(LOGM Quote) burst out of the gate on its first morning as a publicly traded company, with shares surging past their $16 offering price.

The company's IPO had already generated plenty of buzz, and LogMeIn's shares were soon changing hands for more than $20 in morning trading.

Before the market opened Wednesday, LogMeIn announced that it was pricing its shares at the high end of its $14 to $16 range, and hopes to raise $107.2 million in its IPO.

The Woburn, Mass.-based firm provides remote-access services to small businesses, consumers, and IT service providers, and is the latest in a steady trickle of tech companies taking the public plunge.

Although the economic downturn has created a tougher environment for public offerings, at least one analyst feels that the handful of tech IPOs have performed well.

"Albeit a very down year volume wise -- most IPOs have stayed above their offering price," noted Scott Sweet, senior managing partner of IPOBoutique. "This likely played into the high-end pricing of today's highly sought-after technology IPO."

Other tech IPOs this year include health care IT specialist Medidata(MDSO Quote), which priced its IPO at $14 a share, raising $88.2 million last week. The company's shares were trading around the $16.40 mark Wednesday.

Medidata's offering followed IPOs from restaurant reservation Web site OpenTable(OPEN Quote), network management software company SolarWinds(SWI Quote), hi-res imagery specialist DigitalGlobe(DGI Quote) and Rosetta Stone(RST Quote).

"Each IPO this year in tech, with one exception (Digitalglobe's flat performance) has contributed to a more welcoming environment for tech IPOs," wrote Sweet, in an email to TheStreet.com. "Each of the other debuts have, for all intents and purposes, well exceeded expectations in a very trying market."

After a rocky period for IPOs, Sweet feels that the performance of companies like LogMeIn spells good news for future offerings. "This should bode well for both the reemergence of more IPO's that are with or without VC connections," he added.

There has even been speculation that Facebook and Twitter may take the plunge in an improving IPO market. Facebook's recent appointment of a new CFO, for example, raised the level of chatter, although the firm has repeatedly downplayed the IPO talk.

LogMeIn, which competes with Citrix(CTXS Quote), WebEx, now part of Cisco(CSCO Quote), and Microsoft(MSFT Quote), has built good brand awareness in recent years.

Despite stiff competition from some of the biggest names in tech, the Massachusetts firm has racked up over 22 million registered users. LogMeIn.com has also been enjoying solid revenue growth underlining its ability to challenge the likes of Cisco.