IPO Prices Higher Than Expected

0

Shares of Cornerstone OnDemand Inc. jumped Thursday after the initial public offering of the human resources software company priced higher than expected.

Shares of the Santa Monica company, which sells online learning and employee management software, were priced at $13, but trading opened at $18 on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol CSOD. The stock ended the day at $19.07, up more than 46 percent from the initial price.

Cornerstone earlier this month said in a regulatory filing that it expected its IPO to price between $9 and $11 per share. The IPO offered 10.5 million shares, including 7.5 million from the company itself. The rest were sold by early investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Meritech Capital, Bay Partners and Aon Consulting Inc.

In addition, the selling shareholders granted underwriters Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Capital a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1.57 million shares at the IPO price to cover any overallotments. The company said it will have more than 46.4 million shares outstanding after the offering.

Cornerstone’s net revenue rose 49 percent to $43.7 million last year, but the company has yet to be profitable. Its $48.3 million net loss last year was up from 2009’s loss of $8.4 million.

The company’s subscription-based software is used by 480 corporate, government and nonprofit clients to train and manage workers in 23 languages. The software has been used by more than 4.9 million people in 164 countries, Cornerstone said, with bookings growing from $24.9 million in 2008 to $60.9 million last year.

No posts to display