NEW YORK — Fitbit flexed some muscle Thursday, and its shares rocketed almost 50 percent higher in the first day of trading for the fitness tracking gear maker.
Fitbit’s initial public offering priced at $20 per share, bringing in more than $730 million and valuing Fitbit at about $4.1 billion. The company had already raised its stock price expectations this week and said the IPO would include additional shares, but the offering still surpassed its estimates.
The company makes devices that can be worn on the wrist or clipped to clothing. They track steps taken, calories burned and other data, and can be synced up with smartphones. Fitbit also sells a Wi-Fi enabled scale that tracks body mass and other data.
Fitbit Inc. is the biggest-selling company in the young fitness tracking gear industry. Sales surged to $745 million in 2014, almost tripling its total from the previous year. Its first-quarter revenue this year tripled, as well. In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fitbit said it sold 10.9 million devices last year.
Market researcher CCS Insight reports that it expects companies including Fitbit, Jawbone, Nike, Xaomi, Garmin and Misfit will ship 24 million fitness trackers in the U.S. this year, and it predicts that number will double in 2018. But some fitness trackers might already face a big threat from smartwatches from companies such as Apple, Google and Samsung.
Gfk research group reports smartwatch sales will top fitness tracker sales this year, although fitness tracker sales will remain strong. Gfk estimates that more people will buy smartwatches as marketing grows and as the devices more closely resemble smartphones.
Fitbit sold 22.4 million shares, raising $448 million. Its stockholders sold another 14.2 million shares, worth about $284 million.
The San Francisco company’s shares jumped frmo $9.68 to $29.68 Thursday. The stock is trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “FIT.”
Jawbone recently filed a pair of lawsuits against Fitbit. In May, Jawbone accused Fitbit and a group of its former employees who had jumped ship to join its rival of stealing trade secrets, business plans and market research, among other things. Earlier this month, Jawbone accused Fitbit of violating patents belonging to Jawbone. Jawbone has asked a judge to prevent Fitbit from making and selling those products. Fitbit contends it will defend itself against both suits.
