E-Loan jumps 164 percent in debut
Online mortgage provider E-Loan Inc. (Nasdaq: EELN) closed up 23, or 164 percent, to 37 in its initial public offering Tuesday. Priced at $14 a share, the stock opened at 21 and moved as high as 51.
E-Loan provides mortgages to online customers from 70 different lenders.
On Monday, the company bumped its price range to $12 to $14 a share.
Its site enables consumers to efficiently search and apply for mortgages with their individual financial characteristics and borrowing requirements.
In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, E-Loan said it lost $11.1 million in its latest fiscal year on sales of $6.8 million.
It also listed a slew of competitors and potential competitors including Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq: MSFT) HomeAdvisor, Intuit's (Nasdaq: INTU) QuickenMortgage, HomeShark, Keystroke and Mortgage.com. Traditional lenders, such as Countrywide, Norwest, Wells Fargo and Bank America are also providing access to their mortgage loan offerings over the Internet.
Forrester Research projects the market for online mortgage originations will grow from $18.7 billion in 1999 to over $91.2 billion in 2003, representing an increase in online penetration of the existing market from 1.5 percent in 1999 to 9.6 percent in 2003.
Goldman Sachs will serve as the lead underwriter while Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Hambrecht & Quist will co-manage the offering.
The Web application hosting provider managed to gain 1 7/8 to 11 7/8 in its debut after opening below its original price of $10 a share.
The company's network allows customers to send data on wires outside of congested Internet pathways.
After opening at 9 5/32, Digital Island shares weren't able to gather much momentum.