This morning the public markets welcomed MobileIron to the NASDAQ, sending its shares up 17.67 percent at the time of writing. MobileIron is a mobile-IT provider for large corporations.
MobileIron’s IPO was viewed by some as a proxy for the larger technology markets, given its quickly expanding revenue in its most recent full-calendar year, as well as its deepening losses. Like a number of other technology companies looking to go public, MobileIron is growing its recurring revenue at the expense of short-term losses in the form of sales costs.
In its updated S-1 filing, MobileIron detailed its first-quarter 2014 results, in contrast to its first-quarter 2013 results. Revenue grew, modestly, from $25.82 million to $28.21 million, but “Subscription” revenue jumped from $2.73 million to $5.96 million.
Investors could be focusing more on that figure than the firm’s net loss for the three-month period that widened from $3.14 million in the first quarter of 2013, to $13.96 million in the same quarter in 2014.
During that interval, sales and marketing costs expanded from $13.76 million to $21.76 million. The company’s last reported pre-IPO cash tally totaled $64.44 million.
MobileIron picked up around $100 million today, going public at $9 per share. It is currently trading around the $10.60 mark. The company priced mid-point in its proposed range.
Given that the market appears to have welcomed MobileIron, other companies with expanding losses and expanding revenue could now find the time ripe to hit go. Good Technology and Box are obvious candidates.
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Update: I spoke with the CEO of MobileIron, Bob Tinker about his company’s debut. He expressed contentment with the early, strong market reception to the IPO. Asked to describe the current IPO market temperature, Tinker called the market “discerning,” saying that investors were taking the time to understand new offerings. The company declined to discuss forward-looking profit forecasts, citing a quiet period.
The company’s shares are now up a more modest 12%, following a dip.
