Antero Resources Corp., the Denver-based natural-gas company backed by Warburg Pincus LLC, jumped in its trading debut after raising $1.57 billion in a larger-than-expected U.S. initial public offering.
The stock rose more than 18 percent to $52.01 Thursday. Antero sold 35.7 million shares for $44 each, according to a statement Wednesday.
Antero, which produces gas in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, is the most active driller in the Marcellus Shale with 15 rigs in operation, according to company data compiled by Bloomberg Industries. Investors are betting on high growth at Antero to continue, while low production costs keep wells profitable even after gas prices fell about 45 percent over the past five years.
“The growth rate behind this company is phenomenal,” Neal Dingmann, a Houston-based analyst for Suntrust Robinson Humphrey Inc., said Thursday in a telephone interview. “They’ll double production in a year and increase it at least 50 percent plus the year after that.”
