Roku stock up almost 68% in market debut

Shares of Roku, the Los Gatos maker of streaming-video players, soared Thursday after its initial public offering of stock raised $219 million.

The shares priced at $14 each, the top of the company’s expected range, suggesting strong demand from investors and valuing the company at $1.3 billion. The shares rocketed almost 68 percent Thursday, closing the day at their peak of $23.50.

That places it among the biggest gainers for newly listed technology and communications stocks.

Roku is the 22nd technology IPO of the year, according to Bloomberg. The company sold 9 million shares, while its biggest investor, Menlo Ventures, sold 6 million.

Roku’s first-day success reveals a continuing appetite for tech-related IPOs, even after two of the year’s high-profile prospects have sunk

below their offering price. Snapchat owner Snap Inc., which had the second-best first day for a tech IPO this year, is trading 15 percent below its $17 offer price in March. Online meal-kit delivery service Blue Apron is trading at $5.57 per share, 44 percent below its June debut.

Software maker MuleSoft Inc., previously the top first-day performer with a 46 percent gain, is trading 19 percent above its March offer price.

Roku is known for its boxes and sticks that let users watch Netflix, Hulu and a growing universe of streamingvideo options on their TVs. It has the biggest share of the streaminggadget market but has deep-pocket competitors in Amazon, Google and Apple.

Most of Roku’s revenue comes from sales of its streaming players, but it’s seeking to build its business of showing ads to users, whether on its home screen or inside video apps.

Streaming video distributors see Roku’s 15 million active users as an opportunity to build their customer base, the company’s founder and CEO Anthony Wood said in an interview. Roku then makes money by taking a cut of the subscription or advertising revenue for videos streamed through its devices, he said.

The company is unprofitable and has amassed $244 million in losses since it was founded in 2002.