Under Armour (UARM)

[eastunder]

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Under Armour Posts Gains in Trading

WASHINGTON (AP) - Under Armour Inc. scored a touchdown Friday with a sharp price gain in its first day of trading, overshadowing the initial public offerings of insurer Amerisafe Inc. and Dover Saddlery Inc.

Under Armour, a Baltimore-based maker of athletic wear, closed at $25.30 a share, up 95 percent from its IPO price of $13 a share for 12.1 million shares.

Under Armour's performance ranks as the second-best debut of an IPO in the U.S. market this year, after that of Chinese search engine Baidu.com Inc. It also marks the best first-day performance of a U.S. company since semiconductor company Transmeta Corp. gained 115 percent on its first day of trading in November 2000, according to data from Thomson Financial.

The stock had opened at $31 a share earlier Friday, more than double its IPO price.

The offering price came in above the expected price range of $10 a share to $12 a share. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised the projected price range for the stock on Tuesday from its previous level of $7.50 a share to $9.50 a share.

Under Armour sells its garments to athletes and weekend warriors alike.

Investors have indicated a keen interest this year in specialty athletic gear and retailers, with IPOs from Zumiez Inc. and Volcom Inc. producing double-digit percentage gains on their first days of trading. Volcom designs surfing and skateboard apparel, while Zumiez operates retail shops dedicated to selling such clothing.

Under Armour, which was founded in 1995 by former University of Maryland football player Kevin Plank, focuses on clothing that wicks away sweat and cuts down on chafing during exercise. It has seen its revenue rise 127 percent a year. It reported net income of $12.7 million in the first nine months of 2005 on net revenue of $193.8 million, compared with net income of $10.2 million and revenue of $135.5 million in the same period of 2004.

DeRidder, La.-based Amerisafe's stock closed at $9, flat with its offer price on the Nasdaq.

The offering price for the 8 million shares came in at the low end of the expected price range of $9 to $11 set by underwriters Friedman Billings Ramsey Group Inc. and William Blair & Co.

Amerisafe, which began operations in 1986, specializes in worker's compensation insurance for small and mid-sized businesses in hazardous industries like logging and construction. It's a higher-rate business that can command three times the average insurance rates, and the company may see higher revenue in the months ahead as post-hurricane construction activity increases in affected areas of the Gulf Coast.

But the broader trends of improving rate and risk selection that began in 2000 started to slow last year, and Amerisafe states in its prospectus that more price competition from rivals may lie ahead. The company reported total revenue of $203.1 million and net income of $526,000 in the first nine months of 2005, compared with revenue of $182 million and net income of $6.8 million in the same period of 2004.

Dover Saddlery, an equestrian-products retailer, closed at $10.25 a share, up 2.5 percent from its offer price of $10 a share.

The Littleton, Mass.-based company sold 2.75 million shares through W.R. Hambrecht & Co.'s auction process. The price came in at the low end of its expected price range of $10 to $14, which was reduced Thursday from its previous level of $12 to $16.

The company plans to use the proceeds from its IPO to open more retail stores - it now has four - as it tries to grab more market share in an industry that has traditionally been served by small shops. It reported net revenue of $44.5 million and net income of $635,000 in the first nine months of 2005, compared with revenue of $42 million and net income of $1.1 million in the same period of 2004. The company says in its prospectus that the cost of opening new stores contributed to the decline in profits this year.

Two other IPOs - that of Actions Semiconductor Co. and IntraLinks Inc. - never made it to the pricing stage Thursday night. Actions Semiconductor, a Chinese designer of chips for MP3 players, cut its price range to $8 a share to $9 a share after underwriter Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. couldn't attract enough interest at the $9.50 a share to $11.50 a share range. The offering is now scheduled to price on Monday.

IntraLinks, a New York City company that provides Web-based work areas to help businesses share information online, postponed its deal indefinitely, citing market conditions.