Rubio’s Shares Soar 38% in First Day of Trading

Shares of Rubio’s Restaurants Inc., whose 67 Rubio’s Baja Grill Mexican quick-serve restaurants specialize in fish tacos and beach motifs, jumped 38% in their first day of trading.

Rubio’s rose $3.94 to close at $14.44 in Nasdaq trading of 3.65 million shares. The Carlsbad-based company sold 2.25 million shares at $10.50 each, while its stockholders sold 900,000 shares, raising a total of $33.1 million. Rubio’s plans to use the proceeds to repay debt and expand.

Rubio’s, which offers traditional Mexican cuisine and fresh seafood fare priced from about $2 to $6, earned $915,000 last year on sales of $44.7 million. The 16-year-old company competes with Mexican quick-serve restaurants such as Baja Fresh, La Salsa and Tricon Global Restaurants Inc.’s Taco Bell.

The company operates mainly in the southwestern U.S., with most of its restaurants in the San Diego and Los Angeles areas. Rubio’s also has outlets in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Denver and is expanding into Salt Lake City and Sacramento. It plans to open 22 more restaurants this year and 36 in 2000.

Thomas Weisel Partners managed the sale. Other underwriters included Dain Rauscher Wessels and U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray.