Tomorrow, Fitbit becomes the first pure wearables company to go public, and today increased its target price (and amount of money it expects to raise) when its shares go on sale.
Previously, the company said it expected that just shy of 30 million shares of stock would open at between $14 and $16, for a corporate valuation of about $3.1 billion. Today, a financial filing said that the opening price would be between $17 to $19 for each of 34.5 million shares, for a valuation of about $3.9 billion. The original IPO filing said the company expected to raise $100 million; at this midpoint price with the current filing, the Fitbit would sock away $621 million.
Bloomberg points out that if Fitbit goes out at the high end of its range, its price-to-sales multiple would be higher than Apple, Samsung, and Garmin, all of which have products in the wearables sector, but none of which rely purely on that sector. Fitbit, by all accounts, leads the smart band industry through the first quarter of 2015, although Apple is widely expected to take that crown when second quarter figures become available.