Box Shares Jump 57% in Public Debut

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By Jacob Maslow

Cloud Computing
Cloud Computing

Box Inc. (NYSE: BOX), sees its share skyrocket on its first day of trading. The company, which has a $1.7 billion market capitalization, had an IPO of $14. The company, a competitor of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), had been looking to sell shares between $11 and $13.

The company’s shares climbed to a high of $24.73 during early morning trading and has since dropped to $23.8.

Box has had a long anticipated IPO. The offering was in the works during 2014 but was aborted due to declining multiples. The company previously had a $2.4 billion valuation before aborting their 2014 IPO. Current valuation numbers were put at $1.7 billion, but initial share surges put the company well over the $2.4 billion mark as of today.

The company has only released 10.5% of their shares during the initial offering. Current CEO Aaron Levie owns a 3.7% share in the company.

Investors will want to keep a sharp eye on the company going into 2015.

Levie announced that the company is expanding into different service areas that will focus on key industries. As of December, the company was only a few months into their expansion strategy.

The company acquired MedXT in 2014 in hopes of expanding into the medical sector. The company has also brought executives on board in the health, law and retail industries in hopes of making their expansion into specialization areas faster and more profitable.

Box has an interesting future. The company will need to find a way to differentiate their offering from industry giants, such as Microsoft and Amazon. The company’s third-quarter showed that revenue growth slowed to 70%.

Analysts expect the company to generate $280 million in revenue in 2015.

The company’s initial trading day looks promising, but expanding services and specializations will dictate the company’s future.

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