Organic gets off to blazing start

E-business consulting company Organic (Nasdaq: OGNC) closed up 19 15/16, or 100 percent, to 39 15/16 in its initial public offering Thursday. Its shares peaked at 60 in early trading.

The company priced 5.5 million shares at $20 each, the top of their range of $18 to $20 a share. The original estimated range had been $12 to $14 a share.

Goldman Sachs is the lead underwriter for the deal, Donaldson Lufkin and Thomas Weisel are co-managers.

"It's going to be a big deal, on the first day, and in the aftermarket," said Kennan Pollock of IPO Central, who compared it to Proxicom (Nasdaq: PXCM) and Razorfish (Nasdaq: RAZF), competitors which have both had successful debuts this year. "The upside for these services companies is big," Pollock said. "The fact that it's a Goldman Sachs deal is also important to note," he said.

For the nine months ended September 30, the company had net loss of $15.7 million on revenue of $51.8 million, compared to a profit of $1.1 million on revenue of $20.7 million in 1998.

During that time, Organic's five largest clients accounted for 41 percent of revenue, the company said. Its two largest clients also accounted for significant chunks; DaimlerChrysler made up about 12 percent or revenue, and Blockbuster about 10 percent.

Organic's competitors include Agency.com (Nasdaq: ACOM), iXL (Nasdaq: IIXL), Scient (Nasdaq: SCNT), USWeb/CKS (Nasdaq: USWB) and Viant (Nasdaq: VIAN).