Cars and Drivers

What Drove Mobileye 50% Higher After Premium IPO Pricing

Ford DriverLess Car - 2014
Ford Motor Co.
A company that makes the camera systems and develops software and other technologies for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) is leaving the starting line with the pedal really pressed to the metal. Mobileye N.V. (NYSE: MBLY) priced 35.6 million shares at $25 a share for its initial public offering (IPO) Friday morning, well above the upwardly revised range of $21 to $23.

The Israel-based company raised $890 million in the IPO, of which about 77% ($685 million) will go to the company and the rest will be shared out by the selling stockholders. Managers of the offering included Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank Securities. The underwriters have an option from the selling shareholders on an additional 5.34 million shares.

According to the company, its technology will be available in 160 different car models from 18 different manufacturers by the end of this year, and Mobileye expects the technology to spread to 237 models from 20 carmakers by the end of 2015. The company said in its F-1 filing that its technology is or will be available on vehicles from General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMC), Chrysler and others.

Revenues in 2013 totaled $81.2 million and net income for the year totaled $19.9 million. You needn’t look any further to see why the price is bursting through the roof this morning: a company that’s turning a profit at the time of its IPO is a relatively rare thing.

Mobileye’s shares touched a high of $39.18, after opening at $37.47, and were trading at $38.90, up 55%, shortly before the noon hour.

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