When Great Plains Software Inc, a Fargo, North Dakota provider of Windows NT client-server financial management software, filed for its IPO of 3 million shares back in March (CI No 3,117), it was looking at a price range of $11 to $13. The range was upped to $14 to $16 just ahead of the offering on Friday, but even that range proved to be an incredible underestimation of the market’s appetite for the offering. By noon, nearly 2.5 million shares had changed hands and the stock was trading at $32.25, after opening at the day’s low of $31. It closed the day up 102.3% at $32.375 on trading volume of 3.6 million, revealing incredible support for Great Plains’ mission to design software for the mid-sized business market. Since 1992 the company’s annual revenues have doubled to $42m, and for the first three quarters of this year, stand at $39.5m. Proceeds from the offering will be used for working capital.
