Demandware debut shines on cloud appeal

(Reuters) – Investors saw more than a silver lining in Demandware Inc‘s cloud offerings, bidding up its share price as much as 63 percent on market debut, despite an overcast long-term outlook for the sector.

Demandware, which is backed by venture firms North Bridge Venture Partners and General Catalyst, is the fifth cloud-based software company to go public in the last few months.

“It seems that any company that has the words ‘on demand’, ‘SaaS’ or ‘cloud’ in their prospectus is going to do well in this market,” Morningstar analyst James Krapfel told Reuters.

Since December, Jive Software Inc , Brightcove Inc , Guidewire Software Inc and Bazaarvoice Inc have all made strong market debuts.

Cloud computing allows companies to access information on the Internet from remote servers rather than from their own computers.

The global cloud-computing market is expected to reach $148.8 billion by 2014, according to information technology research company Gartner Inc.

As of December 31, Demandware — a maker of software that powers e-commerce sites — had 101 customers, including Crocs Inc , Lifetime Brands Inc and Columbia Sportswear Co , but its 10 largest customers accounted for 40 percent of its revenue.

“They (Demandware) have got an early lead and a nice client list, and we think the growth platform is there,” Krapfel said.

But he does not expect the business to be competitively positioned in the long run.

Concerns over long-term profitability are not restricted to just Demandware.

Most cloud companies face long-term hurdles such as profitability and stiff competition from technology bigwigs such as Hewlett Packard , Dell Inc and IBM , which have been buying up smaller, sometimes unlisted players.

“There is going to be a cleansing process (in the sector) because investors will be very tied in to guidance and what the numbers are for each quarter,” IPOFinancial president David Menlow told Reuters.

Also on Thursday, analog chipmaker M/A-Com Technology’s shares listed marginally above their offering price, but saw steady gains as the morning progressed, rising as much as 11 percent.

However, auto parts manufacturer Allison Transmission Holdings , once part of auto giant General Motors , opened flat at its IPO price, but showed slight improvement later in the day.

Demandware shares closed at $23.59, up almost 48 percent from their IPO price of $16.

(Reporting by Aman Shah in Bangalore; Editing by Brenton Cordeiro, Anil D’Silva and Supriya Kurane)

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