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Calico Soars In Debut

Calico Commerce blasted up 38 3/8 to 52 3/8 in its IPO Thursday. The company, which makes e-commerce software for corporations, priced its 3.
Written by Larry Dignan, Contributor

Calico Commerce blasted up 38 3/8 to 52 3/8 in its IPO Thursday. The company, which makes e-commerce software for corporations, priced its 3.93 million share initial public offering at $14, the top end of its $12 to $14 price range.

Goldman Sachs is the lead underwriter with an assist from Hambrecht & Quist. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers was Calico''s venture capital firm and partner Bernard J. Lacroute is on Calico''s board.

Calico (Nasdaq: CLIC) counts Best Buy Inc., Cabletron Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Dell Computer Corp., Gateway Inc., Merrill Lynch and Nortel Networks Ltd. among its main customers. Dell is also acquiring a stake in Calico at the IPO.

The company also has solid marketing arrangements with Silknet Software and Vignette. In addition, Calico is in talks with Andersen Consulting about a marketing alliance. Andersen Consulting is also interested in buying a stake in Calico at the IPO.

Those relationships make Calico among the most likely to make a big IPO splash, according to David Menlow of the IPO Financial Network, a research firm. "Calico has all the buzz phrases," said Menlow. "They have our highest ranking."

Calico''s "eSales Suite" gives companies customized information and flags potential hiccups in the sales process. It also supports multiple sales channels. Dell uses Calico to configure enterprise sales and Nortel hooks up with customers with the software.

Menlow also said Calico has solid revenue growth.

For the year ending March 31, the company reported sales of $21.4 million and a loss of $15.2 million. In 1998, Calico reported sales of $11.8 million and a loss of $5.5 million. For the quarter ending June 30, the company had sales of $7.4 million and a loss of $4.7 million. Calico said its sales are evenly split between services and licensing.

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