Davids Tea shares debut up 43% in IPO
In the first day of trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange last Friday, shares of Davids Tea surged as much as 43%. Trading under the ticker symbol DTEA, the shares were initially priced at $19, just above the company's estimate of between $17 and $18. By close of trading on Friday, Davids Tea shares were exchanging for $27 and are currently priced just below $30. The company sold about 5.1 million shares, with about 2 million shares coming from cofounders David and Herschel Segal. Davids Tea operates 136 tea shops across Canada and 24 in the US, and hopes the IPO will fund a new expansion push to take on Starbucks' Teavana. There are plans for 10-15 US store openings this year alone. According to the latest SEC filing, sales grew 31.5% to around $114 million in 2014.