Marin Software (MRIN) enjoyed a strong debut late last week on the New York Stock Exchange, raising some $105 million. Its stock shot up 16% over its initial offering price of $14 per share.
Marin sells a digital ad management platform and has focused primarily on search advertising, but it also offers tools for managing display, mobile and social advertising. What does the future hold for Marin in a very competitive market?
Marin will need to spend very wisely, according to Erika Morphy with E-Commerce Times. Covestor model manager Barry Randall told Morphy that Marin’s operating cash flow in 2012 was a negative $19 million, and they finished the year with about $30 million in cash. “The first order of business is to replenish the working capital balance of the company,” Randall said.
Randall, who manages the Covestor Crabtree Technology model, also noted that though Marin is enjoying accelerating revenue growth, it still is losing money. “The company’s revenue growth was 65 percent in 2012 versus 2011, yet its operating loss widened from $17 million to more than $25 million in that time,” he pointed out, “and we know from recent experience with companies like Groupon (GRPN) that Wall Street is barely tolerant of companies whose hoped-for profitability seems to edge away over the horizon.”
In fact, the market can be downright brutal with newly public companies that repeatedly miss their marks.
