4:14 p.m. | Updated
Some newly public stocks are experiencing that one-day pop.
Workday, the software company, opened 72 percent above its offering price of $28 in its debut on Friday, on heavy trading volume. The stock closed the day at $48.69, up nearly 74 percent on its first day.
Workday’s debut capped a streak of investor enthusiasm for initial public offerings this week. On Thursday, the real estate company Realogy and the stock photography company Shutterstock both jumped 27 percent in their debuts.
Investor appetite for Workday, which makes cloud-based applications for human resources, has been rising. This week, the company increased the expected range for its I.P.O., eventually pricing shares above that revised estimate.
Workday operates in a hot space. Enterprise companies, which provide technology services to companies, have sparked a flurry of deal-making activity, as well as offerings. For example, Splunk, which aggregates and analyzes data, went public at $17. Despite some volatility, the company currently trades at more than $31.
Revenue at Workday — which was founded by David Duffield and Aneel Bhusri, two veterans of the software industry — has more than doubled every year in since 2007, reaching $134 million in the year that ended Jan. 31, according to its most recent prospectus. Still like many start-ups, it is struggling to turn a profit. The company has reported a loss every year since 2007.
Despite the recent spate of strong showings, the I.P.O. market is being picky, following the botched debut of Facebook. Last week, Dave & Buster’s Entertainment withdrew its offering, citing the current conditions.