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| Source: | LOHAS Weekly Newsletter |
| Published: | Monday, November 01, 1999 |
The company had hoped to raise $57.5 million, according to its July 27 filing.
Underwriters for the offering included Thomas Weisel Partners LLC, William Blair & Company, and PaineWebber Inc. According to VSHP’s offering prospectus, the $46.5 million in proceeds are for enhancements to the company’s website, advertising and marketing, working capital, and repayment of a note due to The Vitamin Shoppe.
VSHP is a majority-owned subsidiary of North Bergen, NJ-based Vitamin Shoppe Industries, a catalog and retail company with 55 stores.
VitaminShoppe.com’s stock, which began trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol VSHP, on Oct. 8 opened at $11.13/share and closed at $9.75/share. VSHP closed on Oct. 22 at $8.19/share.
VSHP had FY98 sales of $2.9 million and a net loss of $3.4 million.
Analysts disagree over VSHP’s performance thus far.
“The $10 stock looks sickly” says John Mahoney, an analyst in the St. Petersburg, FL, office of Raymond James & Associates. Mahoney also thinks that whatever market cap VSHP has achieved is a missed opportunity for vitamin manufacturer and reseller NBTY (NBTY). “[NBTY] should own the market for this,” Mahoney says.
Yudi Bahl, an analyst with the Minneapolis office of U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, doesn’t think the offering was overpriced at $11/share. “You’ve got to compare it to a lot of other e-commerce companies,” Bahl says. “From that perspective, I think the valuation is fine.”