Eloquent prepped for market debut

Eloquent Inc. (Nasdaq: ELOQ), a media presentation software developer, priced 4.5 million shares at $16 each Thursday, after it had raised the projected price range to $12 to $14 a share from $10 to $12 per share.

The company, which does audiovisual graphics, doesn't have the sizzle of some other technology sectors, but it has averaged 158 percent revenue growth over the last 4 years, said David Menlow of IPOfinancial.com.

U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray is the lead underwriter for the offering of shares in the company, which developes CD-ROM and web-based software to enhance communications with large sales forces via rich media content.

After the offering, there will be about 16.9 million shares outstanding, putting its initial market capitalization at $219.7 million based on a $13 per share initial price, the midpoint of the new range.

The company's competitors include, principally, Digital Lava Inc (NYSE: DGV), privately-held Pacific Media, and DigitalThink (Proposed ticker: DTHK), which has filed for an IPO.

For the year ended December 31, the company had a net loss of $16.6 million on revenue of $12.5 million, compared to a net loss of $10.0 million on revenue of $7.7 million in 1998.