The fact that Crocs Inc. even became a public company during the past week had many at the WSA show shaking their heads, but the fact that the company’s shares debuted at such a high price and then continued to climb after the issue had even more wondering what Wall Street would buy into next. There is no doubt CROX was riding the wave of success of IPO’s from Under Armour, Zumiez, and Volcom over the last year, but the apparent lack of concern investors had with giving a company with one product a valuation of a billion dollars after doing just over $100 million in sales in the last year had many on the show floor pondering their own opportunities.

CROX shares jumped 36% in the first day of trading, but that increase just reflects the increase from the initial offering price of $21 per share. The company had initially set a range of $13 to $15 for the IPO, but raised it to the $19 to $2O range last week. Shares closed the week at $26.55, up 26.4% from the IPO price.

The company will only get to see half the proceeds of the 9.9 million shares sold last week, since half the shares offered were sold by company insiders and early investors that cashed out quickly in the deal. At least one sales rep picked up about $2 million in the IPO.

CROX said it estimates it generated about $108 million in revenue in 2005, compared to $13.5 million in sales for 2004. For the nine-month YTD period through September 30, Crocs generated $75.0 million in revenues, an 821% increase over the comparable period in 2004. Net income for the YTD period was $12.6 million, compared to a loss of roughly $627,000 in the prior-year.


>>> This IPO has to have a number of private company boardrooms buzzing about their own potential for riches