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Watch out, Chewy. This 55-year-old pet store is coming for you

January 14, 2021. Summarized by summa-bot.

Compression ratio: 20.5%. 1 min read.

Ron Coughlin, chief executive officer of Petco Animal Supplies Inc., right, outside the Nasdaq MarketSite during Petco Health & Wellness Co. initial public offering (IPO) in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. Petco Health & Wellness Co.??opened trading today at $26 per share after its $864 million IPO priced at $18 per share, above its $14 to $17 offering range. Photographer: Michael Nage/Bloomberg

Petco is hoping the third time is the charm.

The 55-year-old pet retailer launched its third IPO in company history Thursday — and this time it's taking aim at fast-growing online rivals like Chewy.

After raising $817 million, Petco's shares surged 56%, giving the company and its "WOOF" ticker a market valuation of about $6. 2 billion.

"These things that people thought were albatrosses have become an advantage," Coughlin said, referring to Petco's stores.

Coughlin, who joined Petco in June 2018 after stints at HP (HPE) and Pepsi (PEP), noted that Petco added about 1 million new customers in the third quarter, not far from the 1. 2 million that Chewy added.

We'll keep our pets when we go back to work," said Smith, whose firm manages ETFs of recent IPOs. Unlike Chewy, Petco is profitable right now.

Coughlin said Petco plans to use all of the proceeds from its IPO to repay debt.

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