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Warby Parker shares soar 30% in public debut on NYSE

By Shubhangi on Sep 30, 2021 | 02:30 AM IST

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Key Points:

·         Eyewear maker Warby Parker’s shares surge more than 30% in public debut.

·         Stock price rises to $54.05 per share, compared to $40.

·         Valuation of the company rises over $6 billion.

Eyewear maker Warby Parker Inc’s shares soared more than 30% on its public debut on Wednesday, via a direct listing, at $54.05 per share, valuing the company at over $6 billion.

On Tuesday night, the stock was priced at $40 giving the company a market value of $4.5 billion. The stock is trading under the ticker symbol WRBY on the New York Stock Exchange.

Expansion of Warby Parker

Warby Parker, founded in 2010, used to sell glasses by sending them to customers at their homes and has now expanded by opening various stores. In 2019, the eyewear company launched a line of daily contact lenses.

“We have less than 1% of market share in this massive category, and see huge tailwinds to grow our top line and our bottom line in the years to come,” said Dave Gilboa, co-founder and co-CEO, reported CNBC.

“There’s so much opportunity to scale our physical retail footprint but also scale our e-commerce offering,” he said.

In the coming years, Warby Parker plans to invest heavily in brick-and-mortal. By the end of fiscal 2021, the company is planning to open 30 to 35 new stores. This would bring its total shop count to about 155 to 160 locations.

Online Presence

Having a strong digital presence has been quite beneficial to Warby Parker as even though its stores were temporarily closed during the pandemic, costumers were shopping online.

According to company filings, around 50% of the sales came from online platform in the first six months of the year, compared to 60% in the previous year.

“Ultimately we don’t care where a customer transacts,” Gilboa said. “We just want to make sure that they have the best experience possible.”

The company is also planning to expand its categories other than glasses. About 95% of the sales were from glasses last year, while 2% was from contact lenses, 1% from eye exams and 2% from eyewear accessories.

(With inputs from CNBC)

Picture Credits: NYSE

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