Tech

Switch shares jump in first day of trading

Key Points
  • Shares priced at $17, above the expected range of $14 to $16.
  • The stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SWCH.
  • The data center operator boasts clients including Amazon, eBay and PayPal.
Source: NYSE

Switch shares jumped more than 22 percent on the stock's first day on the market.

The data-center operator was valued at around $4.2 billion in a 31.3 million share IPO. The company raised $531.3 million in the offering, with shares priced at $17, above the expected the range of $14 to $16.

That makes it the largest U.S. technology IPO since Snap went public in March, according to Renaissance Capital.

Shares opened at $21.70 a share on Friday and closed at $20.84 apiece. The stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SWCH.

Switch, based in Las Vegas, rents cloud service infrastructure to clients including Amazon, eBay and PayPal.

The company posted net income of $35.3 million for the six months ended June 30, flat compared with the year-ago period, according to its prospectus.

Because Switch's data centers are energy efficient and the company tends to hang on to customers for several years, Switch aims to be well-positioned to capitalize on data-intensive technology trends like the Internet of Things, wearable devices and autonomous vehicles, the prospectus said. Switch plans to use the funds for its IPO to expand its main campuses and enter new regions in the U.S.

The IPO was underwritten by Goldman Sachs & Co, J.P.Morgan, BMO Capital Markets and Wells Fargo Securities.

— Reuters contributed to this report.