Initial public offerings have largely sputtered over the past few weeks. But that dismal environment has done little to dent investors' enthusiasm for Workday, a maker of human resources software.
The company disclosed on Tuesday that it wa raising the price range for its forthcoming stock sale to $24 to $26 a share, up from $21 to $24. At the midpoint of the revised range, Workday would raise $568.75 million through the offering, and would be valued at about $4 billion.
Last week was especially rough for companies going public, with Dave & Buster's being forced to scrap its I.P.O. altogether.
But Workday benefits from some of the trends that have buoyed a number of the most successful offerings this year. Among them is that its software taps into the much-ballyhooed cloud computing phenomenon, using faraway servers to help provide more complex analyses for customers as they plan business operations.
One of Workday's co-founders, Aneel Bhusri, told The New York Times' Bits blog earlier this year that the company plans to use its public stock as currency for acquisitions that will help it expand.
Workday is scheduled to price its offering on Thursday night and begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, under the ticker “WDAY.â€
The offering is being led by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, with additional underwriters including Allen & Company and JPMorgan Chase.
