Palo Alto Networks Launches IPO

Initial pricing for 6,200,000 shares of common stock began the day available to the public at $42.00 per share, but shares are already being traded at $55.15 by the time the market opened, and as high as $62.07 within the first hour. But by midmorning, the growth had tapered off, and by 9:40 a.m. Pacific time, the stock was trading at $55.83.

With the technology emphasis on information security and next-generation firewalls, high-profile exploits have helped to propel the company to prominence under the guidance of cofounder Nir Zuk, formerly of Check Point, Juniper Networks, and other companies. Palo Alto Networks is expected to report its first year in the black, with net profits slightly in excess of $5 million for the first nine months of the fiscal year ending on July 31st.

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Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Goldman, Sachs & Co., and Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. are acting as lead joint book-running managers for the offering, and Credit Suisse, Barclays, UBS Securities LLC, and Raymond James & Associates, Inc. are acting as book-running managers for the offering.