NextCard shoots up 68 percent in debut

Shares of NextCard Inc. (Nasdaq: NXCD) closed up 13 1/2, or 68 percent, to 33 1/2 in its initial public offering Friday. After opening at 36, the stock quickly hustled up to a high of 40 3/4.

Some analysts believe only the forerunners in a certain Internet capacity will experience successful debuts.

``It is just not good enough anymore to be fifth, sixth or seventh in the Internet arena. You have to be the leader and have to have huge growth potential,'' said Randall Roth at Renaissance Capital Corp in Greenwich, Conn. earlier.

``You have to have a killer concept, a next generation of something-type (Web) product in order to trade at a great premium,'' Roth added.

NextCard has claimed to be the first company to offer an online credit approval system for a Visa card and to provide customized offers for credit card applicants.

The company priced six million shares at $20 apiece earlier, after the price range was raised to $17 to $19 from the original $14 to $16.

The share amount had also been boosted by one million shares in the deal for which Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette were the lead underwriters.

NextCard plans to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, including working capital and funding of credit card receivables.

It will also use the proceeds for potential future capitalization of its proposed limited purpose bank subsidiary, NextBank NA, the SEC filing said.

Reuters contributed to this report. >