Somera skips up 12 percent in IPO

Somera Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: SMRA) closed up 1 7/16, or 12 percent, to 13 7/16 in its debut Friday. The company priced shares at $12 each Friday, the middle of its initial $11 to $13 price range.

Not a bad deal, considering it makes a decent profit.

Shares were up 2 15/16 to 14 15/1 early Friday afternoon.

Lehman Brothers is the lead underwriter for the offering of 8.5 million shares. Dain Rauscher and Thomas Weisel are co-managers.

Somera had revenue of $87 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30, versus $51.2 million for the same period in 1998. It had a whopping net income of $16.7 million versus income of $13.4 million in the 1998 period.

The company's revenue sources look stable and diverse, too. In the first nine months of 1999, no single customer accounted for more than 10 percent of Somera's revenue.

Somera supplies infrastructure equipment, such as switches, to telcos. By offering new, de- installed and refurbished equipment from a variety of manufacturers, Somera offers a variety of goods at a discount. Some of Somera's customers include T&T Corporation, McLeodUSA, Inc., Sprint Corporation, United States Cellular Corp. and Vodafone AirTouch plc.