Pandora's Stock Rises 9% in Stock Market Debut

7:10 AM PDT 6/15/2011 by Georg Szalai

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Shares of the online music service went as high as $26 in early trading, but later pulled back to close at $17.42. 

 NEW YORK - Shares of online music service Pandora Media opened with a big pop in their stock market debut early Wednesday before closing up 8.9 percent at $17.42.

That gave the company a market value of $2.8 billion, compared with $7.7 billion for satellite radio company Sirius XM Radio, which Wall Street observers see as a comparable stock, even though Sirius executives have long highlighted differences in the businesses.  

After pricing Tuesday night at a higher-than-expected $16, Pandora shares in New York Stock Exchange trading went as high as $26, before pulling back.

  The firm had previously targeted a $10-$12 price range and originally had only eyed a $7-$9 range. Some analysts had cautioned investors about the price of the Oakland, Calif.-based firm, which has not been profitable.

The Pandora IPO came after a slew of recent hot Internet IPOs, including that of LinkedIn. Social gaming firm Zynga is also believed to have been eyeing an IPO, which could be filed soon, and Facebook is widely expected to go public next year.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai