The mortgage software provider Ellie Mae Inc. filed to go public Monday morning.
The company also announced that its 2009 profit was $1.7 million on $38 million of revenue.
The Pleasanton, Calif., company offered no estimates of how many shares it would sell — or at what price — but noted in its initial public offering documents that its privately held stock has an estimated value of $47.2 million, or $4.69 a share. It has entertained buyout offers in recent years but never completed a sale.
Ellie Mae, known for its Encompass software, lost money in 2008 and earned a meager profit in 2007. In its S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the 13-year-old company said its Ellie Mae electronic network connects 55,000 mortgage professionals to lenders and service providers. In 2009, roughly 2.8 million loans were initiated over its network — or about 20% of the market.
Discussing the risks of its business, Ellie Mae cautioned about "extreme turmoil" in the residential business, noting that its future performance hinges on attracting more customers to Encompass. Goldman Sachs & Co. is listed as the offering's lead underwriter.
