In a sign of very strong demand, yoga-inspired athletic apparel retailer lululemon athletica priced its offering of 18.2 million shares at $18, a whopping 64% premium to its originally proposed $10-$12 range and above its recently upped range of $15-$17 per share. Although lululemon currently operates only 59 locations (primarily in Canada), management sees potential to support 300+ stores in the US, and its store economics are quite impressive: same-store sales grew between 18% and 25% over the last three fiscal years and it generated annual sales per square foot of $1,300-$1,400. Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch acted as joint book-running managers for the IPO, and the stock is set to begin trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "LULU" on Friday. For more information about the company, please view our Featured IPO of the Week write-up.
