Fortinet IPO Closes Strong First Day

Fortinet closed out its first day of its initial public offering (IPO) Wednesday on a high note with its share price up 34 percent, putting it in the top five performing stocks of the day.

Fortinet share prices soared to $17 when they became available Wednesday, and remained just below $17 by mid-morning. Fortinet's closing price by end of day Wednesday was $16.62 per share.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based network security company adjusted its IPO offer price slightly by end of day Tuesday, upping the share price to $12.50 per share, from its previous price range of $9 to $11 per share.

Altogether, Fortinet raised more than $156 million via the IPO, beating out a previously projected $125 million target. The 12.5 million shares sold Wednesday comprises 5.8 million shares offered by the company and 6.7 million offered by its stockholders.

Fortinet, which is listed under the Nasdaq FTNT, embarked on its IPO process in August, which was underwritten by investors Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank.

Fortinet made its name in the marketplace with its unified threat management (UTM) devices, which incorporate firewall, intrusion prevention and antimalware into a single box. Since its founding in 2000, the company has shipped more than 450,000 devices to more than 25,000 clients, while serving 322 of the Fortune 1000 and 202 of the Global 1000, and has booked a reported $229 million in sales over the last 12 months.