The initial public offering of Workday, a provider of cloud-based applications for human resources, was priced at $28 a share on Thursday evening - well above its expected range.
Earlier this week, Workday raised the price range for its offering, to $24 to $26, as investor appetite proved exceptionally robust. The Class A shares will trade Friday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker WDAY.
The $637 million offering values the company at nearly $4.5 billion.
The demand for Workday's I.P.O. has defied the experience of many companies that have sought to go public so far this fall, with Dave & Buster's Entertainment withdrawing its planned offering last week amid tepid demand.
Other companies have met with more success in recent days, however. Realogy, the owner of the Coldwell Banker real estate agency, priced its offering at the top of its range on Wednesday and posted a 27 percent gain in its first day of trading.
Shutterstock, a p rovider of stock images, priced its I.P.O. above its expected range, at $17, and enjoyed a 27 percent jump in trading on Thursday.
Workday has been considered one of the most attractive companies pursuing an initial offering. It focuses on providing human resources software, taking advantage of cloud computing to provide advanced analyses for customers.
Among its key selling points is a lower cost for clients, since the company's products don't need the onerous service contracts that come standard with competing oferings.
The company has lost money every year since at least 2007, reporting a $80 million million loss for the year ended Jan. 31, according to its most recent prospectus. But its revenue more than doubled every year during that same time period.
Such is the hype around Workday that larger competitors have been paying increasing attention. Larry Ellison, Oracle‘s voluble chief executive, has mentioned the smaller rival by name several tim es during recent earnings calls.
Some of that may arise from Workday's beginnings. The company was founded seven years ago by David Duffield and Aneel Bhusri, who formerly led PeopleSoft, the human resources software maker that Oracle bought after a bruising takeover battle.
The company plans to use its newly public shares for acquisitions, and hopes that the I.P.O. will raise its visibility in the market place.
Workday's offering was led by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
