Agency.com, Andover.net Triple in Their Debuts

Wall Street's IPO frenzy intensified on Wednesday as a pair of new issues -- Agency.com (ACOM:Nasdaq) and Andover.net(ANDN) -- tripled in price during their first day of trading.

Shares of Agency.com, an Internet consulting and advertising company, were up 52 3/4, or 203%, to 78 3/4 by midafternoon after trading as high as 98. (Agency.com ended up 50, or 194%, to 76.)

The New York-based company raised $153.4 million on the sale of 5.9 million shares at a price of $26. Those shares are now valued at more than $450 million. Goldman Sachs & Co. managed the deal.

Shares of Andover.net, a provider of online tools for software and Web site developers, were up 47 1/2, or 264%, at 65 1/2, just off their high of 66. (Andover.net settled up 45 3/8, or 253%, to 63 3/8.)

The company, based in Acton Mass., sold 4 million shares at an initial price of $18, raising $72 million. Those shares are now valued at $242 million. W.R. Hambrecht & Co. was the lead underwriter for the deal.

The soaring prices following the wave of IPO euphoria that washed over Tuesday's markets, when AirNet Communications (ANCC) virtually tripled in price. Moreover, FreeMarkets, which is expected to begin trading on Thursday, took the extraordinary step of nearly tripling its expected initial price range on Tuesday to $40 to $42 a share.

Agency.com last week doubled the range of its initial offering price to $22 to $24 a share but finally priced the offering at $26. Andover.net raised its offering price to the high end of the expected $15 to $18 range.

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