Reply.com Hits the IPO Trail
SAN RAMON, Calif. (
) -- Online auction site
Reply.com
has filed for IPO, the latest in a string of technology companies to take the public plunge in a tough market.
The company filed its S-1 with the
SEC
and hopes to raise $60 million through its offering. Jefferies & Company and Piper Jaffray will act as joint book-running managers, with Needham & Company and Think Equity acting as co-managers.
Reply.com's filing comes hot on the heels of the
eagerly-anticipated
IPO from online advertising specialist
QuinStreet
(QNST) - Get Report
, which
received a tepid welcome from investors
earlier this month.
"We're still in a tough IPO market, without question -- there have already been seven postponements in 2010," Scott Sweet, senior managing partner at analyst firm
IPO Boutique
, told
TheStreet
. Companies going public at the moment, he added, should be extremely careful not to price their shares above what the market is willing to pay.
Described as an online marketing specialist, Reply.com touts its ability to provide clients with locally-targeted information on prospects in areas such as automotive and real estate. The company's customers include
Ford
(FORD) - Get Report
,
GM
(GM) - Get Report
Chrysler
(GM) - Get Report
and
Zip Realty
.
According to the company's S-1, Reply.com generated over 700,000 leads and worked with over 5,000 advertisers during the fourth quarter of 2009. The firm, which is profitable, grew its revenue from $23.3 million in fiscal 2008 to $34.3 million last year.
IPO Boutique's Sweet, however, warns that companies like QuinStreet and Reply.com face a major challenge from
(GOOG) - Get Report
, which has ramped up its online advertising efforts, launching services such as AdSense and AdWords in an attempt to monetize its vast search business.
"I would fear Google in a big, big way," explained Sweet. "They can, obviously, buy the Web 2.0 companies, the smaller players, and put them all together -- it's nothing to Google."
2009 was a busy year for IPOs
, and
saw offerings from a slew of companies
, including Chinese online gaming giant
Shanda
(GAME)
,
Avago Technologies
(AVGO) - Get Report
,
CDC Software
( CDCS) and
Ancestry.com
( ACOM) .
-- Reported by James Rogers in New York
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