Toast opens for trading at $62.6, up about 56% from IPO price

(Sept 22) Restaurant-focused tech company stands to be valued at $30 billion based on recent trading.

Toast, Inc.shares popped 56% in their trading debut Wednesday, marking a warm Wall Street welcome for the maker of restaurant-focused software and payment technology.

Shares of Toast opened at $65.26, above their initial-public-offering price of $40, which itself came in above a raised expected range of $34 to $36. Toast raised $868 million through the offering and stands to be valued at $31.2 billion based on its recent trading price of $62.50.

Toast has a variety of payment offerings for restaurants, including point-of-sale hardware, team-management tools, and software that enables establishments to take online orders. The company's technology was present in about 48,000 restaurant locations as of the end of June.

Among the most popular Toast products are its payment hardware, online tools, and marketing offerings, Chief Financial Officer Elena Gomez told MarketWatch. Over half of the company's customers adopt more than four products and she is "excited and encouraged that more customers are adopting entirety of the platform."

The company generated revenue of $704 million during the first six months of 2021, while posting a net loss of $235 million. That compares to $344 million in revenue and a net loss of $125 million during the first six months of 2020.

Asked about the company's approach to the bottom line, Chief Financial Officer Elena Gomez told MarketWatch that the company plans continued investments in its platform. "At the highest level we have such a massive opportunity that we're going to continue to support customers and invest for growth," she said.

One growth aim for Toast is international expansion, according the company's prospectus. Toast currently captures perhaps only 6% of the U.S. market, Gomez said, but the company also sees a "significant opportunity" to attract customers in new geographies, Gomez said.

Toast's debut comes at a time that the Renaissance IPO exchange-traded fund $(IPO.UK)$ has rallied 6.7% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 index has gained 3.7%.