Twitter Raises IPO Range to $23-25 per share

TwitterTWTR

raised its IPO range from $17-20 per share to $23-25 per share in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Twitter expects to sell 70 million shares plus the underwriters option in $10.5 million. With four sources reporting different valuations, the average sits around $14.075 billion.

SunTrust analyst Robert Peck noted that Twitter's IPO valuation was overly conservative in an October 25th note. Peck reviewed Twitter's 123 percent ad revenue growth QoQ, the MoPub platform growth, $1 billion facility and strong balance sheet after the IPO.

The analyst has since noted the $3.8 billion valuation of Pinterest and the rumor that Snapchat was raising funds, as signs of Twitter's worth. SunTrust's price target for Twitter is $50.

During a pre-IPO "roadshow" meeting, Twitter addressed international operations concerns. Despite that 75 percent of users are overseas, only 25 percent of its revenue comes from non-U.S. advertisers.

Overseas growth was noted as more spontaneous and evolved from events including the 2011 Japan earthquake and the Arab Spring. Twitter commented that three top executives leading international operations visited Paris, Singapore, and Dublin over the summer and will expand the use of its self-serve advertising system.

IBM recently sent Twitter a warning letter saying that they are infringing patents for website addresses retrieval, contact discovery and interactive adverts. Twitter responded that they have "meritorious defenses" to the allegations.

Reuters reported that Twitter will close the IPO book on Tuesday, November 5.

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