NEW YORK: Shares of social network LinkedIn more than doubled in price after launching on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday in a tech stock feeding frenzy reminiscent of the infamous dot-com boom.
LinkedIn stock topped $100 a share at times but hovered just below that as the market neared its close.
The career and business oriented online social networking service launched its stock at $45 per share at the start of the day.
"It's just really good timing, when everybody's paying attention to technology in a new light," said Cantor Fitzgerald US market analyst Marc Pado.
The company raised some $353 million from investors Wednesday after jacking up its initial public offering (IPO) price by 30 percent to take advantage of a hungry demand for the first major US social network firm to go public.
The IPO launch price was far higher than the $32-35 range announced just a week earlier and valued the company at $4.25 billion. LinkedIn had revenues of $243 million and a net profit of $3.42 million last year.
If the share price holds near the $100 mark, LinkedIn's market value will be closer to $10 billion.
LinkedIn had the most valuable US Internet IPO since Google became a publically traded company in 2004, according to research firm Renaissance Capital, which specializes in newly public companies.
The showing by LinkedIn could "pave the way for other social networking firms to take the IPO plunge," Renaissance maintained.
The LinkedIn debut was the first big test of demand for Internet stocks in years.
The fervor to get hold of the shares raised comparisons to the dot-com bubble that famously burst in January 2000, sending the tech-focused Nasdaq stock exchange plummeting.
The index today remains 40 percent below its peak.
Investors hunger for stakes in hot social networking firms such as Facebook and Twitter, which have remained private while capturing fans and influencing lifestyles around the world.
"They want exposure to those types of companies, social networking companies, and LinkedIn was their first chance," said Morningstar analyst Bill Buhr. "It looks like everybody took it."
LinkedIn reaped the benefit of being a "proxy" for Facebook and Twitter in the eyes of investors, according to the analyst.
"That's got to be part of what's driving this," Buhr said.
"It's not yet a bubble," he continued. "We need to see what the other firms do."
Social networking titan Facebook is believed to be planning an IPO next year.
It will be important to see whether LinkedIn lives up to investors hopes in the coming year or two, according to analysts. Morningstar advised investors that it felt LinkedIn shares were overpriced.
"The industry is young, but we are very positive on the prospects for the company," Morningstar senior analyst Rick Summer said in an online post.
"Still, even good companies should be bought for less than they are worth."
Renren, China's largest social network, went public on May 4 at an IPO price of $14. The shares soared in the first few days of trading, but since have fallen and closed Wednesday at $13.70.
LinkedIn brings together people online to cultivate and manage their careers and business networks.
It has more than 100 million members in over 200 countries and territories, with 44 million in the United States.
The California company launched in 2003 and is raising the money to fuel expansion.
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