Cornerstone OnDemand (CSOD), a global provider of on-demand talent management software, raised $137 million by offering 10.5 million shares shares at $13, above its proposed $9 to $11 range. The Santa Monica, CA based company booked $48 million in sales in 2010, up 59% from the prior year. Shares of Cornerstone OnDemand are expected to begin trading on Thursday on the NASDAQ under the symbol CSOD. Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Barclays Capital acted as lead managers on the deal. William Blair, Piper Jaffray, Pacific Crest and JMP Securities acted as co-managers.
Cornerstone's strong pricing was completed despite recent global market volatility in the wake of the catastrophic events in Japan, which pose an added risk to the current global economic recovery. While the average IPO is up 5% year-to-date -- beating all major market indices -- 1 out of every 3 IPOs are now trading below their issue price.
Cornerstone OnDemand represents the 27th company to go public in the US so far in 2011 and is the 7th IPO in 2011 to price above its anticipated range. Cornerstone is also the third software company to go public in 2011, following the debuts of mobile marketing solutions platform Velti (VELT) and mobile healthcare app provider Epocrates (EPOC). Epocrates is the best performing IPO year-to-date, up 56% from its Feb. 2 debut. After soaring 30% on its first day of trading, Velti is now hovering just above its $12 offer price.
