Wi-Fi networking company Ruckus Wireless exercised its initial public offering (IPO) Friday, selling 8,400,000 shares of its stock at $15.00 per share, valued at $126 million.
However, the value of the shares declined to $12.25 per share, or 18.33 percent when the New York Stock Exchange closed Friday.
David Callisch, vice president of marketing for Ruckus, said in an interview Friday afternoon that economic uncertainty was slowing the IPO market.
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"But given that we held our own, we're happy," Callisch said. "We priced [the stock] at the high end of the range, and we have a lot of strong investors."
Ruckus counts among its customers many Wi-Fi network carriers such as cable operators Time Warner Cable and Japanese mobile operator KDDI.
"Carriers have embraced Wi-Fi as a strategic technology for their services," Callisch said. "And Ruckus is in the forefront of that technology."
Ruckus filed for its IPO in October, saying it planned to obtain additional working capital, and that it may use funds raised to "acquire complementary businesses, products or technologies."
Ruckus is experiencing rapid growth. In a filing with the SEC Friday, the company said its net income for the first nine months of 2012 was $29.8 million, up from $1 million for the first nine months of 2011.
Revenue increased 93 percent, to $152.5 million for the first nine months of 2012, compared to $79 million for the first nine months of 2011.
In May, Ruckus said it was adding about 600 solution providers worldwide a quarter.
Al Brown, president and CEO of SmartWave Technologies, a Suwanee, Ga.-based solution provider and Ruckus' 2011 healthcare solution provider of the year, said Ruckus is already performing well.
"With some more funding they may explore some other markets," Brown said. "But I know they are on pretty solid ground from a product standpoint."
Gary Berzack, COO and CTO at eTribeca, a New York-based solution provider, said that Ruckus, now that it is public company with a valuation at $1 billion, will be able to compete for large contracts against bigger networking companies, Cisco and Aruba.
"Ruckus has the opportunity now to go after the large enterprise customers," Berzack said.
Goldman Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank Securities are the lead underwriters to the offering, Ruckus said. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company has venture funding from Sequoia Capital.
PUBLISHED NOV. 16, 2012
This story was updated on Nov. 16, 2012, at 5:08 p.m. PST, to include comments by eTribeca's Gary Berzack made after press time.
