With Md. stocks rising, Lanham firm files $40M IPO

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As Maryland stocks traded up for the fifth week in a row, a Lanham software company decided to join the warming water by filing initial public offering papers.Vocus Inc. hopes to raise $40 million to grow and pay off $3.2 million in debt. The company creates software to automate public relations tasks. Among other things, its products can monitor news for relevant topics, track and create e-mail campaigns, and analyze public relations results.The company’s origins date back to the 1988 formation of a Florida company called First Data Software Publishing Inc. that made government relations software. The name changed in 1999. Last year it acquired private-firm Gnossos Software Inc. in a move to grow its government relations software business. The company plans to have its stock traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker VOCS. Still, computer shares have lost ground this year so far. Stocks on the NASDAQ Computer Index were down 2.4 percent Friday despite recent gains from broader indexes. Last week the Bloomberg Maryland index climbed 1.5 percent. The Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average both climbed 1.3 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.Only two other software companies have filed for IPOs this year, according to Hoovers.com.Vocus hasn’t made a profit since at least 2000, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Last year it lost $2.7 million.The company though likes to focus on its improving record — 23 consecutive quarters of revenue growth since 1999. It counts more than 1,100 customers. Its software is available in four languages. It employs 170 full- and part-time workers.Vocus says it has few competitors offering comprehensive PR software as companies spend more and more on public relations. It estimates there is a $2 billion market for public relations software among companies with at least $10 million in revenue.The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects hiring for public relations specialists will exceed average hiring in all other occupations through 2012.Shares in other newly minted Maryland public companies have been mixed. Stock in Bethesda-based DiamondRock Hospitality Co., an upscale hotel real estate investment trust that chiefly buys Marriott-branded properties, has grown 9.3 percent since the close of its first day of trading on May 26. Shares closed at $11.55 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.Shares in Foundation Coal Holdings Inc. have grown 17.9 percent since the close of their Dec. 16 debut. The stock closed the week at $25.85 on the New York Stock Exchange.But hitting a research snag, stock in Advancis Pharmaceutical Corp. lost more than half its value last week. Shares in the Germantown company now have lost 77 percent since their first day of trading in October 2003. The stock closed at $2.07 on the Nasdaq Friday.