Contact: Brenon Daly
As we were skimming through Tripwire’s recently filed IPO paperwork, we couldn’t help but wonder ‘what if….’ Specifically, we were wondering what the company would be like if it had gone for the other exit and taken the rumored offer from BMC more than three years ago. At the time, Tripwire was only about half the size it is now and nowhere near as profitable. But with the benefit of hindsight, it’s almost certain that Tripwire would have been valued at a much richer multiple in a trade sale during a time when M&A dollars were flowing freely (late 2006-07) than by going public in the current bearish environment.
To be clear, that’s not a knock on Tripwire. As we highlight in our report on the proposed offering, the company has a solid growth story to tell Wall Street: six consecutive years of revenue growth, while generating cash in each of those years. Instead, it’s just a reflection of the dramatic change in the valuation environment over the past three years. Consider this: In March 2008, BMC paid roughly 11 times trailing sales and 9x projected sales for BladeLogic, a valuation that wasn’t at all out of whack for the fast-growing datacenter automation vendor. (It was actually lower than what Hewlett-Packard spent on Opsware, a BladeLogic rival.)
While we have no idea what kind of valuation BMC was kicking around for Tripwire at the time, we have to believe it’s above the multiple we have penciled out for the IT security and compliance vendor in its market debut. Because of the bear market, we figure Tripwire will probably come public at about $300m. If that initial valuation holds more or less accurate, it will value Tripwire at basically 4x trailing sales and 3x projected sales – just one-third the valuation that BladeLogic got in its sale.