Software Company Mavenir Files for IPO — Should You Get in Early?

Several U.S. companies have gone public over the last two months amid the euphoria in the U.S. IPO market. Most companies that have gone public have delivered strong listing gains. The IPO mania has also attracted Berkshire Hathaway, which invested in the Snowflake IPO despite chairman Warren Buffett’s generally negative views on IPOs. Now, mobile network software company Mavenir is also making a move to go public. When is Mavenir stock IPO date and should you buy?

According to Mavenir, it “is the industry’s only end-to-end, cloud-native Network Software and Solutions/Systems Integration Provider for 4G and 5G, focused on accelerating software network transformation for Communications Service Providers (CSPs).” It provides end-to-end solutions across the mobile network infrastructure.

Mavenir has more than 4,000 employees, 60 percent of whom work in research and development. Mavenir has more than 250 customers across more than 120 countries, and their client list includes 17 of the top 20 telecom operators globally.

To be sure, this is Mavenir’s second stint with public markets. It went public in 2013 under the ticker symbol “MVNR.” That same year, it also launched the world’s first virtual 4G services. However, two years later, it was acquired by Mitel and the company was renamed Mitel Mobile. Then, in 2017, Mavenir was relaunched at World Mobile Congress as a standalone private company providing end-to-end software solutions.

Mavenir hasn’t yet disclosed its IPO date. It would offer an unspecified number of Class A shares to investors. Class A shares have lower voting rights as compared to Class B shares. Class A shares would have one voting right for every share while class B shares have 10 votes per share. Generally, companies go for differential voting rights when the promoter group intends to retain the control of the company while also reaping the benefits of access to public markets for funds.

Mavenir hasn’t yet disclosed its IPO price. The company has put a $100 million placeholder in its filings, which means that it would raise less than $100 million from its IPO. Last year, Mavenir reported revenues of $427.4 million—up 9 percent year over year. However, it posted a net loss of $81 million. The net loss narrowed from the $97.2 million that it had posted in 2018.

While Mavenir is in the red on the net profit level, it is in the green when it comes to EBITDA. The company posted an EBITDA of $105.1 million last year as compared to $97.4 million in 2018. Mavenir would list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “MVNR.” Investors should wait for the IPO price before deciding on whether to invest in Mavenir stock IPO. You can alternatively consider an IPO ETF to get diversified exposure to newly listed U.S. companies.