Snap expected to debut at $22 per share as investors lap up stock

The parent company of popular picture messaging app Snapchat has priced its initial public offering at $17 per share, with latest trading suggesting it will enter the NYSE at around $22 per share.

Snap Inc. announced the release of 200m shares of Class A common stock, raising an initial $3.4bn in its flotation. According to the figures, Snap will have a market value of $24bn, making it the biggest tech flotation since that of Facebook in 2012.

In its initial IPO filing, the company estimated that its shares would be originally priced at between $14 and $16.

Trading on Snap is expected to begin on Thursday in the New York Stock Exchange, and investors are bouyant despite reports of slowing user growth for the app.

Sales in the company are growing fast however, rising to more than $400m in 2016, while many believe that that figure will top $1bn at the end of this year.

"Snap shares look set to fly when they begin trading in New York today after being priced at $17, above its target range," according to Neil Wilson, senior market analyst at ETX Capital.

"With the Dow closing above 21,000 for the first time the IPO comes at an incredibly bullish point for US, and indeed global, equities. Of course such bullishness is reminiscent of the dotcom bubble and this could be a high watermark for the market."

Many investors are still worried about Snapchat's ability to make a profit however, after a string of losses being reported in the recent years. It reported a loss of $515m in 2016, over $140m more than it lost in 2015.

The app launched in 2011 and quickly found success among teenagers and millennials as a trendier alternative to existing social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

"It will be interesting to see what path Snap takes in the coming weeks, and whether investors’ appetite for the stock can last longer than the length of one of the app's images," added Connor Campbell, analyst at Spreadex.