Integrated Telecom gains in debut

Integrated Telecom Express (Nasdaq: ITXI) moved up 6 7/8 to 24 7/8 Friday in its initial public offering.

The maker of integrated circuits for ADSL equipment company had priced its 5.6 million shares at $18 a piece, the middle of its price range.

"It's about pure power, less noise," said Justin Burrows, Money Editor for Hoover's Online. Burrows said the deal should do well since there's always interest in those in the networks business, as the performance of Foundry (Nasdaq: FDRY) has shown.

The company is a bet on ADSL , or asymmetric digital subscriber line equipment, which competes with other technologies, such as cable modem, broadband wireless, satellite communication and high capacity telephone lines to provide broadband last mile access.

For the year ended December 31, the company had a loss of $13.71 million on revenue of $3.05 million in revenue. It did not have figures for the full year of 1998. For the six months ending June 30, the company lost $11.5 million on sales of $14.4 million.

The company has also landed 55 design wins as of June 30.

Companies such as the newly combined Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and NorthPoint (Nasdaq: NPNT), EarthLink (Nasdaq: ELNK) and SBC Communications (NYSE: SBC) are driving demand for ADSL, so the company should have a big market.

The biggest risk for ITeX is competition, which includes Alcatel Microelectronics, Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI), Centillium Communications, Conexant Systems (Nasdaq: CNXT), Lucent (NYSE: LU) and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN).

Lead underwriter for the deal is Lehman Brothers. Co-managers are Bear Stearns and Wit SoundView.
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