A couple of days ago, an American company Coursera, owning an education platform of the same name, became public. It offered its shares in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Let’s discuss the results of the IPO and the first trading sessions.

About Coursera in short

On March 30th, an online education platform Coursera became public. Analysts call this IPO a success. Now – to the details:

  • 15.73 million shares were sold, out of which 1.07 million are the shares of shareholders and 14.66 million are newly-issued shares.
  • The share price was $33; the volume of the IPO - $519 million.
  • Capitalization reached $4.3 billion.
  • Among 13 underwriters, there are such giants as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Citigroup.
  • The option presented to the underwriters was 2.36 million shares.
  • The money attracted by the IPO will be spent on marketing, research, buying or creating new technology and services, and hiring new employees.

Coursera shares grew by 22% on the first day of trades

On March 31, the stock price of Coursera (NYSE: COUR) reached a high of $49.53 at the first trading session, demonstrating growth by 22.8%. However, closer to the end of trades, the quotations started declining and closed at $44.9.

On the next day, dynamics remained positive. The highest price of the session was $56.48. Trade closed at $45.78. The quotations grew by 1.73% against the day before.

Main facts about Coursera

  • The platform was created in 2012 by Stanford University professors Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng.
  • At the end of 2020, the number of users reached 77 million people, the number of partner universities – 150, and the number of courses – above 5,000.
  • Last year, the revenue amounted to $293.51 million, which was 59% higher than in 2019.
  • In 2020, losses were $66.82 million, or 43% more than in 2019.
  • The main investors are venture trusts Future Fund, New Enterprise Associates, Kleiner Perkins, and GSV Capital. The last round of financing attracted $130 million, while the company was assessed as $2.6 billion.
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An expert – about the IPO of Coursera

An analyst and R Blog author Maksim Artyomov says the following about the IPO of Coursera:

“After the first two days of trades, Coursera shares pumped up from $33 to $56. Then speculators somewhat lost a part of their spirit (as expected), traders started taking the profit, the stock price dropped a bit. As long as Coursera has been suffering colossal losses, the IPO was a rescue – the company got a chance to improve its financial situation (with $4.3 billion of investments as well).

The share price might be changing significantly in the nearest future as it often happens to exchange newcomers.

If the pandemic continues, Coursera has all the chances for switching from losing to making a profit. COVID-19 heats the interest to online learning, which is a great opportunity for Coursera.

After the first month of trades, the share price should stabilize and might start forming a sustained uptrend.

The goal must be the current high. At the beginning of autumn, when students start a new year of studies, the share price might leap above $100. Such significant investments will do only good to the company”.

Summing up

An American online education platform Coursera had an IPO on the NYSE. The IPO was a success, as well as the first day of trading when the shares reached a high of $49.53.

Thanks to the pandemic and lockdowns, in 2020, the platform extended its client base and its yearly revenue in turn (by 59%). The company secured its place in such a promising and fast-developing segment as online education.

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