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Garden.com, Luminant jump in market debuts

2 min read

Garden.com and Luminant Worldwide's stalling paid off Thursday; both took off in their debuts after waiting out the dreary August IPO market.

Garden.com (Nasdaq: GDEN) shares shot up 7 1/16, or 59 percent, to 19 1/16 after it planted 4.1 million shares on the market at $12 each.

The stock was originally priced at between $11 and $13 a share.

"It's a very interesting site, but a very targeted play," said Peony Kao, an analyst for the Renaissance Capital IPO Fund. "Sales growth is good, but it's still from a small base."

For the year ending June 30, Garden.com reported sales of $5.4 million and a loss of $19 million. A year earlier, it reported revenue of $1.3 million, and a loss of $4.7 million Nearly all of Garden.com's sales come via e-commerce, with only $442,000 in advertising revenue for the year.

  • Luminant Worldwide's (Nasdaq: LUMT) strategy paid off as shares rose 8 3/8, or 47 percent, to 26 3/8 after pricing at $18 a share. But it cut the size of the offering considerably, and will offer only 5 million shares after an original 12.6 million shares the original price range was $11 to $13.

    Luminant does Internet and e-commerce consulting for Fortune 500 firms. The company, formerly known as Clarant, reported net loss of $51.2 million on revenue of $41.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 1999.

    Lead underwriter for the offering is Deutsche Banc Alex Brown, and co-managers are Hambrecht & Quist and Soundview Technology Group.

    Former CBS honcho Michael Jordan serves as Luminant's chairman and will own about 4 percent of the company following Thursday's IPO.