Thursday, January 23, 2014

Splunk Adds To List Of 2014's Tech Stock Offerings

Splunk Inc.(SPLK), one of 2012's hottest initial public offerings, has another stock sale on deck.

The deal by the data-analysis software maker follows well-received offerings by software makers Workday Inc.(WDAY) and Cvent Inc.(CVT) last week, suggesting investor interest in cloud computing and "big data" analysis remain high. Those deals bucked the broader market's sluggish tone, with indexes little changed out of the gate this year and many strategists predicting muted returns after 2013's rally.

Splunk's six-million share offering is slated to price Wednesday evening, according to people familiar with the deal. The San Francisco company, whose software helps companies collect and analyze large quantities of data, is raising cash for general corporate purposes, it said in a statement this week.

Splunk's shares have gained about 19% so far in 2014, versus a 0.3% decline in the S&P 500.

The shares have more than quadrupled since the company went public at $17 a share in April 2012. The stock jumped 109% on its first trading day, making Splunk the only U.S.-listed company that year to double in its trading debut.

A pair of tech companies that also had highly sought after IPOs saw strong demand in equity capital-raising efforts last week.

Workday,  a provider of human-resources software  through the so-called "cloud," agreed to sell $614 million worth of stock early last week. While most stock offerings price at a discount to shares' recent price to lure buyers, the Workday offering priced slightly above the stock's last close before the deal was announced.

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Meanwhile, Cvent Inc., a provider of cloud-based event-planning software, sold $187 million in shares at a slim file-to-offer discount. It increased the number of shares on offer by 10% as the deal priced.

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