Shake Shack stuns investors, doubles its stock price on first day of IPO

Shake Shack stuns investors, doubles its stock price on first day of IPO

Shake Shack, which has 63 locations on the East Coast, hopes to use the IPO funding to expand to 450 locations eventually.

Shares of Shake Shack, a burger chain that began from a New York City hot dog cart, has more than doubled its market share on its very first day of trading.

The company had raised $105 million for an initial public offering (IPO) on Thursday, with 5 million shares going at $21 apiece with forecasts that it would get about $14 to $16 per share from investors — a prediction that increased up to $19 per share on Wednesday as demand went through the roof, according to an Associated Press report.

The company is known for, as the company’s name suggests, milkshakes, burgers, and crinkle-cut fries, and began as a lowly hot dog cart in Manhattan’s bustling Madison Square Park — just a handful of blocks north of the New York Stock Exchange, where investors gobbled its stock up this week. Its shares rose $24.90, a 119 percent increase, and closed at a whopping $45.90 on Friday, which would place the value of the chain at $1.6 billion.

Currently, Shake Shack has 63 locations that are mostly on the East Coast, with plans to expand farther, using the IPO as a way to fund the expansion plan. The company hopes to have 450 locations at some point, according to a regulatory filing.

Shake Shake is considered a fast casual restaurant chain that is still based in New York City. Its origins as a food cart go back to 2000. It faced some initial growing pains, but has developed a positive reputation in markets it has expanded to. The company revealed late last year in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it would be filing for an IPO.

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