Shares of Omniture Inc. closed their stock market debut Wednesday up less than a fraction of a percent in what some analysts call a challenging IPO environment for technology companies.

The Orem software company's stock rose 3 cents to close its first trading session on Nasdaq at $6.53 a share on Wednesday. Omniture had priced its initial public offering of 10.7 million shares at $6.50 a share, below its forecast $7.50-$9 range, making its IPO worth about $50.1 million.

Analysts say Omniture's IPO priced below its hoped-for range because the company hasn't been profitable in recent quarters and because of lingering negative sentiment over the poor performance of other recent technology IPOs like that of Vonage.

For the three months ended March 31, Omniture's net losses widened to $3.4 million, or 24 cents loss per share, from net losses of $2.7 million, or 20 cents loss per share a year ago. But the company's revenues have more than doubled every year since 2002 -- which bullish investors say is indicative of its strong future growth potential.

So why go public nowfi Possible reasons include pressure from venture capitalists, which so far have invested more than $60 million in Omniture, to produce returns, said Jeron Paul, principal of vSpring Capital.

The company said in earlier IPO filings it plans to use the proceeds to pay a $4 million license fee and for general corporate purposes, including expanding sales and marketing activities, investments in its network infrastructure and further development of its service offerings. Proceeds may also be used for the acquisitions of complementary businesses, technologies or other assets, the company said.

Paul said Omniture was "wise to go public at a reasonable price."

"It's rare for an IPO to launch below $10. But there were probably questions over whether they could raise the money if they set the price higher," he said.

Because of increased corporate oversight under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the SEC becoming more stringent in the last three years, it's now more difficult to complete an IPO, said Dennis Wood, director of human capital at vSpring Capital.

"But the fact that Omniture has been able to complete this process is an important and positive signal to the market that opportunities exist for exits," he said. Omniture develops software and services that allow customers to collect and analyze information generated by their Web sites. Its key customers include Apple Computer Inc. and eBay Inc.

Paul agreed, saying Omniture CEO Josh James and his management team "deserve kudos for sticking out and completing their IPO in difficult times."

"This IPO cements Utah's reputation as a place that creates a lot of neat technology companies," Paul said. "It's easy to focus on the negatives. The fact that the stock price didn't tank says a lot, and with the new funds, Omniture will potentially be acquiring other startups, adding jobs and creating a new crop of entrepreneurs for the state."

Will West, chairman of the Utah Technology Council, agreed. "Hopefully, it'll lead the way for companies to go public. It provides liquidity for investors, provides a marketable security for employee incentives and gives the company currency for future acquisitions," he said.

Paul downplayed concerns that Omniture may have lost part of its market share in the midmarket category with Google's recent entry into the Web analytics market with its acquisition of Urchin Software Corp. last March.

"After it bought Urchin, Google began offering free Web analytics services to its customers. But it isn't as sophisticated a service as that of Omniture's. If Omniture's growth strategy is to target the mid- to low-end market, then this free offering could take some market share there. But Omniture caters mostly to large Fortune 500 companies, or enterprise customers like Apple and eBay," Paul said.

Kristi Knight, Omniture's director of corporate communications, declined to comment on the company's IPO because of an SEC-mandated 25-day quiet period after its launch on Wednesday.

Omniture, whose stock began trading under the symbol "OMTR," is offering 8.7 million shares and selling shareholders are offering 2 million shares. The company has granted the underwriters the right to purchase an additional 1.605 million shares of common stock to cover over-allotments or over-subscriptions.

Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Securities and JPMorgan are underwriting the IPO.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C6.