Mark Lennihan/Associated PressYandex’s chief, Arkady Volozh, second from right, and other executives celebrate the start of trading in their company’s shares.
4:17 p.m. | Updated
Shares of Yandex, one of the largest Internet companies in Russia, climbed more than 55 percent on Tuesday in their Nasdaq trading debut.
Yandex’s stock, which was priced at $25 on Monday, closed at $38.84, a gain of $13.84. The shares opened at $35 and briefly rose as high as $42.01.
The enthusiasm for the Yandex offering, the largest technology offering since Google’s $1.7 billion market debut in 2004, reflects the rising exuberance for Internet companies in the United States and elsewhere in the world.
Over the last few weeks, a handful of multibillion-dollar companies have jumped into the public markets, enjoying robust first-day pops reminiscent of the last technology boom. Renren, one of China’s leading social networks, surged 29 percent on its debut on May 4 and raised $743 million in its offering.
LinkedIn, a social network for professionals, more than doubled on its first day of trading on Thursday. The company, which had recently traded in the secondary markets at an implied valuation of $2.5 billion, is now valued at more than $8 billion.
While overall demand for promising Internet companies is running high, some stocks have struggled to hold on to investors at lofty prices. Renren is now trading below its offer price. LinkedIn has also pulled back, but it is still trading sharply above its offer price.
Over all, there have been 23 technology I.P.O.’s so far this year, raising $4.5 billion, according to data from Renaissance Capital. Not including Yandex, these I.P.O.’s traded up 14.9 percent on their first day on average.
Enthusiasm has been building for Yandex. Two weeks ago, it forecast a more modest price range of $20 to $22 a share.
On Monday evening, the company, based in Moscow, sold 52.2 million shares in its offering, raising $1.3 billion. The stock began trading Tuesday under the ticker symbol YNDX.
Its underwriters, led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank Securities, also have the option to sell an additional 5.2 million shares to cover over-allotments.
For investors, Yandex represents a bet on Russia’s burgeoning technology market. Last year, the company generated about 64 percent of all search traffic in the country, recording revenue of $439.7 million and net income of $134.3 million.
“This is the Google of Russia,” said Scott Sweet, a senior managing partner of I.P.O. Boutique. “They are profitable, their growth is outstanding and they have over 60 percent market share; Google has about 22 to 30 percent.”
Yandex’s largest shareholders include the hedge fund Tiger Global Management, Baring Vostok Private Equity Funds and the company’s chief executive, Arkady Volozh. All are selling some shares in the offering.
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