McAfee.com IPO Weighs In at $12

The parent may be an underachiever, but the offspring could be ready to shine: Shares of software company Network Associates Inc. are down 64% in 1999, but stock in its online retailing unit McAfee.com Corp. priced far higher than expected Wednesday in a $75-million initial public offering.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based McAfee (MCAF), whose products address network security and management, sold 6.25 million shares at $12 each--up from the expected range of $6 to $8--in a deal led by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. The stock starts trading today on Nasdaq.

Analysts say Network Associates, which retains 85% of McAfee, gets a badly needed boost from the sale.

Two other IPOs were also aggressively priced.

PFSweb Inc. (PFSW), which provides transaction management services for e-commerce and traditional companies, sold 3.1 million shares at $17, versus a target of $14 to $16. The Knot (KNOT), a provider of wedding content to America Online, sold 3.5 million shares at $10 each, the top of their range.