Bamboo, Imagex IPOs Jump in Slow Market

Bamboo.com Inc. and Imagex.com Inc. soared in their trading debuts Thursday on Nasdaq, benefiting from the conservative pricing of their initial public offerings and the thin summer IPO calendar.

Bamboo.com (ticker symbol: BAMB), which offers 360-degree virtual tours of real estate properties on the Internet, rose $10.56, or 151%, to $17.56 after its $7-a-share IPO. The Palo Alto-based company raised $28 million in its offering, compared with its original estimates of as much as $60 million.

Shares of online printing firm Imagex.com (IMGX) climbed $6.94, or 99%, to close at $13.94 after its IPO, also at $7 a share.

The Bellevue, Wash.-based online printing firm offers software to automate the traditional commercial printing process. It raised $21 million in its IPO, versus the $48 million it had previously expected to raise.

The two debuts were the first to hit the market after this week’s Federal Reserve decision to raise interest rates, and the fact that both cut back their size and terms prior to pricing was seen as a concession to the realities of the current market.

This is “sending a signal to the marketplace that if valuations are cut on the order of 30% or more, the deals are receiving better-than-expected [receptions],” said David Menlow of IPO Financial Network.