Coupons.com Soars 88% in Public Debut

Coupons.com (NYSE:COUP), debuted on the New York Stock Exchange today, soaring 88% in its IPO. The online coupon site listed at $16 and closed the day at $30.

The company raised $168 million in capital in the offering, after releasing 10.5 million shares. Coupons.com now has a market cap of $2.2 billion.

Founded in 1998, Coupons.com, which offers discounts on grocery and drugstore items, has seen substantial growth in recent years. CEO Steven Boal tells Fox Business, “We’ve grown from 345 million transactions in 2009 to 1.3 billion last year.”

The increased business is reflected in the company’s revenues, which jumped 50% annually to $168 million in 2013. Coupons.com generates income from ad sales and when a coupon code is accessed from their platform. “Every time a consumer prints a coupon or downloads it to a mobile phone, we get paid to distribute it,” Boal says.

Rocky Agrawal, principal analyst at reDesign mobile is optimistic about Coupons.com. “As the newspaper industry dies, all of the manufacturer incentive dollars have to go somewhere. Coupons.com is one of the most likely places.”

But Coupons.com is not yet profitable, on an annual basis, posting a net loss of $11 million last year. This compares with a $59 million net loss the year before.

Competitor RetailMeNot (NASDAQ:SALE) did its IPO last July, and has seen shares rise 108%. Both sites serve as a database of coupons for consumers.

Coupons.com has received $277 million in venture financing, with the bulk of it coming from Passport Capital.  Passport has a 20% stake in Coupons.com and T. Rowe Price has a 10% stake.

The offering was led by Goldman Sachs. Allen & Co., Bank of America, and RBC Capital Markets also served as underwriters.

2014 has been a strong year for U.S. IPOs, with 46 year-to-date, according to Dealogic. This is the best pace seen since 2007.